Lacie has expanded its rugged storage line with a new portable flash drive that offers more strength and speed than the company's previous offerings. Constructed out of Zamak (zinc alloyed with aluminum, magnesium and copper), the XtremKey USB 3.0 can withstand all manner of abuse, including up to 10 tons (20,000lbs/9,071kg) of pressure and drops from up to 10 meters (nearly 33 feet).
As you might expect, the drive can also handle extreme temperatures spanning from -30C (-22F) to 200C (392F). To demonstrate the device's heat resistance, Lacie plunged it into a deep fryer for five minutes at 190C (375F). That video is below and it's the first entry of an "XtremKey vs The World" series that will show the drive surviving strenuous circumstances submitted by users on Facebook.
Naturally, since the XtremKey USB 3.0 can endure a dip in scalding oil, it's no surprise that drive is sufficiently protected against plain old water. The device is IP-68 Level 8 certified, which means it's waterproof for up to 200 meters (656 feet). "The memory modules are shielded inside a 2mm casing and sealed with wear-resistant screw threads and a hermetic, rubber O-ring," Lacie explains.
Along with protecting your data from external elements, the Xtremkey comes with AES 256-bit software encryption. Performance-wise, the company says you can expect transfer rates of up to 230MB/s, which supposedly equates to transferring three HD movies or 9,200 pictures in less than a minute. The drive is currently available with 32GB of storage for $85 while a 64GB version should launch soon.