We would like to thank at first Silicon Power for supplying their Armor A62 IPX4 Waterproof and Shockproof 4TB Portable HDD for testing and reviewing

 

 

About Silicon Power:

 

"Founded in 2003 by a group of enthusiastic data storage industry experts, Silicon Power is committed to delivering outstanding product and service quality. Headquartered and with our own state-of-the-art production site in Taipei, we have become a leading manufacturer of flash memory cards, USB flash drives, portable hard drives, solid state drives, DRAM modules and industrial-grade products. As an international player with four branch offices around the globe, we continuously strive to offer the perfect data storage solution for all requirements of modern digitalized life. With a strong focus on combining innovative technology and award-winning design, we live up to our brand promise to reliably preserve and protect your most valuable data.

Because memory is personal."

 

Special Gift for that Special Someone

 

Do you have some special memories you share with that special someone? Your wedding and honeymoon? The movie you watched together on your first date? Songs that you both love? Your child's first wobbly steps that you caught on video? Just as you wouldn't use any old picture frame for your favorite wedding picture, the A62 is made to wrap all your digital memories beautifully. The bold color combination of black and red reminds of a gift box tied with red ribbons. So, show your loved ones that you truly care about them and those memories and store them safely on the A62.

 

Innovative Cable-Carry Design

 

I want to back up some data - where's the friggin' cable?! Is forgetting the cable an issue for you? The A62 has an innovative, diagonal cable-carry function that not only helps to reduce the drive's size and weight; it also makes sure that you will always have it at hand when your data needs some attention.

 

Protection for Careless Moments Without the Usual Rugged Look

 

Compliant with the USA military-grade 122cm shockproof drop test, you get the protection without the typically rugged exterior! The Armor A62 offers protection against accidental drops and splashes, because it's also IPX4 water-resistant. So, your memories are safe - go and make new ones without worrying about your stored data. The unique design of the surface also helps to avoid fingerprints, scratches and damage caused by friction.

 

Store Them All!

 

The A62 comes in two sizes: In ultra-slim 7mm or 15mm with up to 5TB storage capacity. Enough capacity to store all your priceless memories with the stylish touch they deserve.

 

Cable: Type-A to Type-A (A62S, A62L)

Capacity: (A62S) 1TB/2TB, (A62L) 2TB/3TB/4TB/5TB

Dimensions: (A62S) 131.7 x 86.5 x 14.9 mm; (A62L) 131.7 x 86.5 x 22.8 mm

Weight: 180-282 g (by capacity)

Material: Plastic

Color: Black

Interface: USB 3.2 Gen 1 (USB 3.1 Gen 1 & USB 3.0, USB 2.0 backwards-compatible)

Supported OS: Windows 10/8.1/8/7/Vista/XP 64-Bit, Mac OS 10.5.x, Linux 2.6.31??

Operating Temperature: 5?~ 55?

Storage Temperature: -40?~ 70?

Certification: CE/FCC/BSMI/Green dot/WEEE/RoHS/EAC/KCC/RCM

Patent: TW Patent No.D194430

Warranty: 3 years

 

Silicon Power have quite a bit of External Storage models for sale, with different features and specifications. The product we are going to take a look upon today is the Armor A62; right from its name, we can figure out that it is a rugged product, coming with a special surface texture for protection against scratches and fingerprints, IPX4 water resistance and 122cm military-grade shockproof.

 

The item is shipped inside a plastic/cardboard combo enclosure, which highlights the main features right from the frontal area; here we will also note the USB bus it was designed for, along with the total storage capacity:

 

 

 

Depending on the total storage space, Silicon Power does usually approximate how many multimedia files would fit on the drive:

 

 

 

On the back side of the box we will notice a small product description in many languages, the technical specifications, package contents but also the system requirements:

 

 

 

Inside, we will find the drive sitting inside a transparent plastic mold, but also an USB data transfer cable:

 

 

 

Armor A62 does come in two flavors (A62S and A62L), depending on the chosen storage capacity. The 1TB and 2TB drive models are thinner, with a height of about 14.9mm, while the other type of 2TB drive, along with the 3TB, 4TB and 5TB models have a total height of 22.8mm. The weight will vary quite a lot depending on the number of platters inside and the form factor, between 180 and 282g:

 

 

 

The frame consists of red rubber, which delivers a nice contrast along with the black front and back plastic covers; the rubber does also help as a fixing mechanism for the USB cable:

 

 

 

 

 

The textured plastic surface does also offer quite a bit of grip, so you will not drop the unit by mistake:

 

 

 

The interface port is a full USB Type-A, which is considerably sturdier versus the MicroUSB Type A Ver 3.0 or the USB Type C Ver 3.0:

 

 

 

The back cover is smoother to the touch and does also reveal four small screws for dismantling the unit:

 

 

 

The total drive capacity and supported standards is also printed here:

 

 

 

After removing the top cover, we will get to see that the main drive is fully surrounded by a rubber layer, in order to protect it from bumps or other damages:

 

 

 

Our sample was equipped with a Toshiba MQ04ABB400 drive, which is much thicker than a regular 2.5’’ laptop drive; to be more exact, we are dealing with a 15mm thick chassis:

 

 

 

The supplied USB Type A to USB Type A cable is easy to carry around thanks to its small length:

 

 

 

The testbench was composed from the following hardware:

 

CPU: Intel I5 9700K Retail

CPU Cooler: Deepcool Captain 240 EX RGB AIO

Motherboard: Gigabyte Z370 AORUS Ultra Gaming

RAM: Patriot Memory Viper RGB Series DDR4

Video: KFA2 GeForce GTX 1060 OC 6GB

Power Supply: Cooler Master 850W

SSD: OCZ Vector 150

Case: Cooler Master ATCS 840

 

When powered on for the first time, we will see that the Armor A62 drive comes formatted NTFS, with a single partition:

 

 

With the help of AIDA64, we will be able to extract some more information about the drive, which is a Toshiba MQ04ABB400, with a platter rotation speed of 5400RPM:

 

 

 

On the drive we have preloaded an utility which helps with the product registration, but also the manual in electronic PDF format:

 

 

 

 

CrystalMark

 

AIDA64 Disk Benchmark

 

HD Tach

 

HD Tune

 

PCMark 2005

 

PCMark Vantage

 

It is quite great that we are now seeing 2.5’’ portable drives breaking the 2TB barrier and are now available with capacities of up to 5TB (not counting the multi-drive enclosures). The MQ04ABB400 drive enclosed in the Armor A62 with 4TB of storage capacity does have a rotational speed of 5400RPM and makes use of the 128MB of cache for boosting read/write speeds when using lots of small files. While this model is noted by Toshiba as being highly reliable, Silicon Power builds on this and includes a rugged plastic/silicone casing for IPX4 water resistance, is 122cm military grade shockproof, while the textured surface protects against scratches and fingerprints.

 

Silicon Power does also combine ruggedness with fashion, by choosing a catchy black/red color scheme, while the supplied USB cable can be attached to the drive while in transit, by using the silicone frame.

 

The Armor A62 4TB drive can be now purchased online for about 112.31 Euros; it is a great drive to store backups on and does not need an extra power supply as the fully-fledged 3.5’’ drives do!

 

Silicon Power Armor A62 IPX4 Waterproof and Shockproof 4TB Portable HDD is Recommended for:

 

 

We would like to thank again to Silicon Power for making this review possible!