While regular solid state disks (SSDs) can handle a few more bumps and knocks than conventional hard drive units, they are still delicate pieces of electronics that must be treated with a good deal of care – something that makes the idea of the new S5 series of military-spec (MIL-SPEC) SSDs from Emphase pretty cool. The S5 line includes SSDs that range in capacity from 16GB to 128GB and have MIL-SPEC ratings in “vibration, shock, thermal shock, drop and altitude.” All of these things are nice to have in a hostile environment but there are other rugged SSDs out there that will stand up to the same kinds of abuse. What separates the S5s is a cool self-destruct feature that can be activated by the push of a button – either a case button (for those who value their privacy more than they value their data) or by a jumper cable that can be attached to the front of the drive. Once the self destruct process has been initiated, whatever is stored on the drive will be toast – the “erase and destroy” features are MIL-SPEC as well. The catch, of course, is the price. You have to part with a small fortune to pick up a regular SSD – so you're going to have to be prepared to part with a lot more to get one that can be dropped, hit, used in extreme temperatures and fry your data on command. Prices start from just under $460 (for the 16GB model) and get much, much more expensive from there. Plus they are only available by special order, so chances are that their sale will be restricted to people who have a legitimate need for this sort of thing.