HDD by stefan @ 2016-03-31
The Armor A85 is another rugged drive for people frequently on-the-go from Silicon Power which does offer shock-proof, water-proof and dust-proof protection of a military-grade. While the product we have got for review does feature 500GB capacity (on a Seagate ST500LM012 5400RPM drive), the manufacturer is also selling 1TB, 2TB and even 4TB versions of the product, for people which need to perform large backups.
We would like to thank at first Silicon Power for supplying a sample of their Armor A85 500GB USB 3.0 HDD for testing and reviewing.
“Silicon Power Computer & Communications Inc., founded in 2003 by a group of enthusiastic specialists in International Business, Global Marketing, and Technical Engineering of flash data storage industry. Well dedicated in brand image and product quality, Silicon Power has been recognized and well accepted by millions of end-users in more than 100 countries, becomes the world's leading manufacturer of flash memory cards, USB flash drives, card readers, DRAM modules, solid state disks, and portable hard drives in less than a decade. Headquartered in Taipei, we continuously established various branches throughout the world including Netherlands, Japan, Russia, Mainland China and other emerging market to reach the worldwide market.
Silicon Power's overall performance has gradually drawn great attention worldwide. In 2006, we received Taiwan Rising Star Award for our foreign business achievement. In 2008, we won 17th National Outstanding Small & Medium Enterprise Award for our outstanding progress. Moreover, with superior quality and innovative design, our products stood out in several competitions and awarded Taiwan Excellence and COMPUTEX Design & Innovation Award in 2009, 2010 and 2011. Winning trust of global consumers, Silicon Power holds a record of successive double-digit revenue growth for last seven years. According to the Common Wealth Magazine's 2010 Survey of Taiwan Top 1000 Manufacturers, our 2009 revenue growth rate was ranked No.11 among Taiwan's top 1000 manufacturers, and even ranked No.1 in semiconductor industry.
Positioned as Passionate, Creative and Hungry for Success, Silicon Power introduces products for users who are seeking individualized, unique and personal digital storage devices. With the mission of creating unprecedented experience for users, Silicon Power will endeavor to deliver a full range of high quality products that have innovative designs, distinctly unique features and comprehensive after sales services to create and fulfill your personal memory.”
Military-grade shockproof protection
Armor A85 is meticulously equipped with three layers of defense to protect the drive from vital hurts that may happen during daily operations. The internal suspension system makes the first layer of defense to ensure excellent vibration damping function. The second layer applies rubber covering to provide shockproof capability with perfect buffer effect. And the heavy-duty aluminum case creates the third layer to enable incredible pressure resistant protection. Furthermore, the A85 provides the free SP HDD Lock Utility software to enhance better data security with limited access by a password.
IP68 Waterproof & Dustproof
Armor A85 applies the seamless rubber material and unibody cup-shaped design to provide complete waterproof and dustproof functions. It passed the IP68 standard that promises indestructible potections against water and dust, further making A85 the best data safeguard for your important files.
Toughest fortress with pressure-resistant function
Armor A85 fortifies its protection by using the sturdy aluminum case by which it can be perfectly pressure-resistant for it can withstand up to 500 kg of force. In addition, the metallic casing is delicately processed by matte sandblasting surface treatment that provides higher resistance to scratches, fingerprints and dirt.
Intelligent Cable-carry Design
Armor A85 presents extraordinary fashion taste with luxurious aluminum casing that glistens in metallic glow. Additionally, A85 exercises the innovative cable-carry design for simple cable storage by which the cable can be easily fixed on the back of the drive. Therefore, users don’t have to worry about leaving cables behind anymore.
Dimensions: 132.5 x 92.3 x 25.9 mm
Weight: 298~364 g (by capacity)
Capacity: 500GB 1TB 2TB 3TB 4TB
Material: Aluminum/Rubber/ Plastic
Color: Silver
Interface: USB 3.0 / USB 2.0 compatible
Data transfer rates: Max. 5 Gbps (USB 3.0 Mode); Max. 480 Mbps (USB 2.0 Mode)
Power supply: DC5V (Power supplied through USB)
Supported operating systems: Windows 10/8.1/8/7/Vista/XP, Mac OS 10.5.x, Linux 2.6.x
Operating temperature:5~ 55
Storage temperature: -40~ 70
Patent:TW Patent M513441, D172227
Warranty: 3 years
In this review we will look upon one of the latest USB 3.0 portable hard drives from Silicon Power and to be more exact the Armor series, code name A85. This is not the first Armor series product we are reviewing and with this last model we do get IP68 water-proof and dust-proof protection, shock-proof military-grade protection and also a handy cable-carry design. The product is shipped in a compact cardboard enclosure with a small plastic window, which carries the Silicon Power design signature; on the frontal area we will get to see the total capacity and how the product does really look like, without the need of unsealing the enclosure:
Some of the product highlights are presented via icons on one of the sides:
Silicon Power also approximates the quantity of multimedia content which fits on the device, depending on which model we choose to purchase:
The back side of the box comes with the specifications list but also the package contents:
Inside the enclosure, we will receive one USB 3.0 cable and the User Manual as bundle:
The manual is describing users how to perform the hardware connection, in multiple languages:
The rugged A85 does come with a quality aluminum exterior layer, a seamless rubber cover as a middle layer and inside the HDD is equipped with a suspension system to protect it from vibrations:
The bottom area of the unit does have a plastic cover which also tells us the total storage capacity along with a list of supported standards:
On the top we will get to see a dotted black plastic texture along with the cover of the USB 3.0 port:
The cover does also have a rubber seal around it for water-proofing:
Thanks to the extra rubber layer on top, we can attach the supplied cable quite easily, so it can be carried easier:
The testbench was composed from the following hardware:
CPU: Intel I7 Retail @ stock
Motherboard: Foxconn BloodRage with G42 BIOS
RAM: 3x2GB Patriot PVT36G1600LLK 1600MHz
Video: Sparkle GTX 470 with stock and OMNI A.L.C.
Power Supply: Nexus RX-8500 850W modular
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 500GB 7200.11
Case: Thermaltake Armor+ LCS, stock cooling
OS: Windows 7 Ultimate x64
Expansion: ASUS U3S6
When powered on for the first time, we will see that the Armor A85 drive comes formatted FAT32, with a single partition:
With the help of AIDA64, we will be able to extract some more information about the drive, which is a Samsung ST500LM012 drive, with the rotational speed of 5400RPM:
On the drive we have preloaded an utility which helps with the product registration:
A free-to-download utility is to be found on the Silicon Power website, which contains multiple functions to the drive:
The latest version of SP Widget is a bit simplified:
With it we can perform the following tasks:
Backup
Data Encryption
Preferences Backup
Data in the Cloud Access
We can also access the Setup sections for checking out the User’s Manual in electronic format or view the Log File:
The Armor A85 is another rugged drive for people frequently on-the-go from Silicon Power which does offer shock-proof, water-proof and dust-proof protection of a military-grade. While the product we have got for review does feature 500GB capacity (on a Seagate ST500LM012 5400RPM drive), the manufacturer is also selling 1TB, 2TB, 3TB and even 4TB versions of the product, for people which need to perform large backups.
Since we are dealing with a 5400RPM 500GB drive, the unit is not meant to break any performance records, but should work just fine as a backup device on our laptop/convertible or even desktop computer (in this case we usually have the PC connected to a home wired network and a small NAS takes the lead in terms of system backup).
As all other rugged enclosures from Silicon Power, the USB cable features the same connector on both sides and the cover for the drive port is also equipped with a silicone gasket.
Depending on the version, A85 features a very diversified pricing: the cheapest is the 500GB which can be found for about 82 Euros, next we have the 1TB version for about 93 Euros (a much better choice for double the capacity), then the 2TB version for about 140 Euros; moving on, the 3TB version is available for about 234 Euros, while the most expensive, 4TB model can be had for about 275 Euros.
We would like to thank again to Silicon Power for offering this sample to review!