External Hard Drive Silicon Power Armor A60 2 TB

Have it only for two weeks now, but I am totally satisfied. It already proved the shock resistance little bit, believe that leaving it outside in the rain would not harm it. Good size - small and quite light. Only I didn't like that I had to buy some extra cord USB A-A which is not so common. But the short one is really too short. Also, it is quite noisily humming, but nothing terrible. I like it very much and recommend it. I got also Transcend 4TB which seems to be even more "outdoor" thing but is not waterproof and even though the humming is much softer, the actual sound of the head is much noisier. So I like both equally. Much better than terrible new WD MyPassport 4TB, which is first of all ugly, design like from 80's and you can not touch it properly, if you ... MoreHave it only for two weeks now, but I am totally satisfied. It already proved the shock resistance little bit, believe that leaving it outside in the rain would not harm it. Good size - small and quite light. Only I didn't like that I had to buy some extra cord USB A-A which is not so common. But the short one is really too short. Also, it is quite noisily humming, but nothing terrible. I like it very much and recommend it. I got also Transcend 4TB which seems to be even more "outdoor" thing but is not waterproof and even though the humming is much softer, the actual sound of the head is much noisier. So I like both equally. Much better than terrible new WD MyPassport 4TB, which is first of all ugly, design like from 80's and you can not touch it properly, if you don't want it to freak out :-)

Better than the well-known brands

OK, the price was what attracted me in the first place, but when this wad delivered I was impressed! Combination of black hard plastic and fluoro green silicon rubber casing, high military spec shock-proofing. The design is interesting, with the rubber casing flap covering the USB port when not in use, and the cable clipping onto the casing when not in use. The socket is type A, so both cable ends identical. An activity LED flashes red or blue accirding to activity. The manufacturer's website offers some additional software.

Disclaimer: Free sample for review

Now combine the two cons and you have the potential that if the drive were dropped on the side with the USB port cover into a puddle on the side of the street; you could very well crack the side cover, dislodge the port cover, and water splashes in. Dead drive? No... it's not powered. Open up one side, put it all in a ziplock bag with a piece of bread on top and set it in a closet or other confined place with a small heater running for about 8 hours. The warmth will evaporate any water that got on the circuitry as well as around the drive itself. The bread will absorb the evaporated water. Now you should go over the circuitry on the board and the drive for debris and smudges. Put it all back together and it should work fine provided it survived the shock which is ... MoreNow combine the two cons and you have the potential that if the drive were dropped on the side with the USB port cover into a puddle on the side of the street; you could very well crack the side cover, dislodge the port cover, and water splashes in. Dead drive? No... it's not powered. Open up one side, put it all in a ziplock bag with a piece of bread on top and set it in a closet or other confined place with a small heater running for about 8 hours. The warmth will evaporate any water that got on the circuitry as well as around the drive itself. The bread will absorb the evaporated water. Now you should go over the circuitry on the board and the drive for debris and smudges. Put it all back together and it should work fine provided it survived the shock which is likely. All that said, this situation is highly unlikely. If you are fiddling with the drive in such a way this could happen, it's a niche circumstance at best. It's likely going to be tucked into some pocket or pouch in your laptop bag, getting pressed into other luggage when traveling. This level of protection is actually rather overkill for typical stowage situations. Now if you check my other reviews you'll learn I love poking holes in others. This is no exception as in only two reviews we have one case of user error to redeem: The drive only goes to sleep if your system allows it in your power profile. If you disable HDD spindown and set prevent system idling to sleep, this will not happen. Two options, both system configurations, and neither having anything to do with the quality of the product. Perhaps best to ask about these things or contact support before posting a review that cannot be edited or deleted without contacting Newegg support.

Excellent shock proof and water resistant drive with fast transfer rates

Despite the military-grade shockproof protection, this drive is not that much bigger than any other 2.5" portable hard drive. After unboxing it I dropped it from above head height onto my lino covered wooden kitchen floor and it survived intact without any damage or marks left on the case and it worked when I connected to my laptop. It draws its power via the included USB-USB (i.e. not USB-Micro USB) cable, therefore there's no need for an extra power lead. My Windows 7 laptop recognised it immediately. It comes formatted to FAT32 but I’ve I reformatted it to NTFS (a quick 10 second Windows process). Before formatting, there’s an Activate Warranty file on the drive that clicks through to the Silicon Power website where you can also download a copy of a backup ... MoreDespite the military-grade shockproof protection, this drive is not that much bigger than any other 2.5" portable hard drive. After unboxing it I dropped it from above head height onto my lino covered wooden kitchen floor and it survived intact without any damage or marks left on the case and it worked when I connected to my laptop. It draws its power via the included USB-USB (i.e. not USB-Micro USB) cable, therefore there's no need for an extra power lead. My Windows 7 laptop recognised it immediately. It comes formatted to FAT32 but I’ve I reformatted it to NTFS (a quick 10 second Windows process). Before formatting, there’s an Activate Warranty file on the drive that clicks through to the Silicon Power website where you can also download a copy of a backup software suite. Copying 285GB of data to it took 90 minutes with a very impressive average transfer rate of 61MB/s. I use a USB 3.0 ExpressCard adapter so you should get even faster speeds with built-in USB 3.0. It's backwards compatible with USB 2.0. It looks good, with a black scratch resistant reinforced case with a silicone band that acts as a shock absorber and also incorporates a cover for the USB socket. There’s also a neat groove where you can attach the USB cable to the drive. Silent in operation, it stays cool and is also water resistant too. In summary, this is a high quality 1TB portable hard drive. With impressive transfer speeds and the peace of mind that the shock proof protection and water resistance offers, it's well worth the money and I definitely recommend it. It has a 3 year warranty. I received this for free from the manufacturer in return for this honest review.

Fastest HDD i own, including my internal HDDs

► Comparison to my INTERNAL HDDs This external is actually faster than my internal drives. I could put my steam games onto this drive and actually have better load times. ► Conclusions and final thoughts: When you think external drives, the word "fast" isn't part of that thought process. Typically it's more like "sigh, I need this out of necessity". This drive is actually going to become my gaming and video editing workhorse. I'm simply blown away by the performance and durability of this drive. I highly recommend this to anyone looking for an affordable large solution for external data! ► Just for fun: I'd actually like to see an SSD version just to benchmark the speed, also that would heighten the durability since it has no moving parts.

Great drive for the money, mostly well built, suits my usage perfectly.

After looking at some reviews and some dismantling videos to see the insides, this drive looked the best for the most reasonable price. The green silicone you see on the outside goes all the way in to where the drive is. Other drives are just silicone on the outside and the drive mounted to the plastic case. Google a review on the Xtreme Systems forum or any other teardown. The catch is this drive is not waterproof like some of the others, I don't remember if it is even dust-proof, but surely better than a plain portable HDD. The USB cover flap is probably the worst part of the drive. It is a poor fit and could have been made a lot better. Otherwise the USB cable is fairly short and only fairly flexible (not premium). I have ordered a 0.5m cable for my situation so ... MoreAfter looking at some reviews and some dismantling videos to see the insides, this drive looked the best for the most reasonable price. The green silicone you see on the outside goes all the way in to where the drive is. Other drives are just silicone on the outside and the drive mounted to the plastic case. Google a review on the Xtreme Systems forum or any other teardown. The catch is this drive is not waterproof like some of the others, I don't remember if it is even dust-proof, but surely better than a plain portable HDD. The USB cover flap is probably the worst part of the drive. It is a poor fit and could have been made a lot better. Otherwise the USB cable is fairly short and only fairly flexible (not premium). I have ordered a 0.5m cable for my situation so the drive sits somewhere safer. The cable was too short for my PC and USB ports, so it hold the drive up at a slight angle and not flat. The drive also has a removable USB-sata header, meaning that if that fails, you should be able to plug the drive directly into a sata port and have it work again. Performance is to be expected for a 2.5" 5400rpm drive - 110MB/s empty to about 50MB/s full. I purchased the 2TB drive which included a WD 15mm WD20NPVZ-00WFZT0

High quality rugged portable hard drive

I bought this to make backups of my personal data and wanted something I could carry around in a backpack without risking damaging it. The casing seems high quality and sturdy enough and the hard drive itself is sourced from Toshiba. Silicon Power isn't the most well known brand but it's been around for almost 20 years and is well regarded. Also happy to support 'made in Taiwan' products.

Terrific External Storage!

This is my third Silicon Power Armor Shockproofportalble hard drive. I bought it because I have been so pleased with the quality of these hard drives. They are dependable, easy to use, and I have had no problems with them at all. I have dropped one, and it got into dirt, and still works flawlessly. I just needed more storage, so I purchased this additional Silicon Power hard drive. My only trouble now, is telling them apart -- which I easily remedied by using a metalic Sharpie pen to label them.