Page 2 - A Closer Look, Test System
Taking the first glance at the Silicon Power Armor A30, and you will probably notice the colors the most. In fact, there are not many black and orange products out there, unless you decide to go shopping on the last day of the tenth month every year. On all of the corners and two of the sides are orange silicone bumpers sticking out to provide some color in an otherwise boring looking device. The rest of the front is a less spooky honeycomb-like pattern. This patterned area is resistant to scratches and scuffs, but unfortunately, this is only a section of the front. The rest is a more standard black plastic, which actually is not really protected at all. Aesthetically, this hard drive is different. For the most part though, the Armor A30 is quite fingerprint proof, holding onto very minimal stains from fingers and other liquids.
While ADATA chose a more conventional route with its brick-like shape with the DashDrive Durable HD650, Silicon Power has added more pronounced edges, both by design and by color. I have to say this is a very interesting device; unlike anything we have seen before. One of my friends even mentioned it resembled a teddy bear. As I pulled my face out of my palms, I had to admit that she was not too far off. You can almost see its closeness to a small stuffed animal... if you look really hard. One design choice I like is the inclusion of rubber slits on the top and side bumpers, which allow the cable to be held with the hard drive in one piece. This way, users would not have to worry about having the cable with them, since it will be attached. Securing it in place is also very simple and requires very little effort. On the plus side, it also forms a nice little handle with the cable, in case you want to go out in your neighborhood asking for candy on the aforementioned date. While you will get some strange stares as you carry your Silicon Power Armor A30 around, you can rest assure you will have your memory, all one terabyte of it, with you.
The cable provided by Silicon Power is a standard, full-size USB 3.0 to USB 3.0 cable, which is actually unfounded in many devices. Most hard drives are given a Micro USB input, because it takes up less space without any sacrifice in performance. Just for your information, the Silicon Power Armor A30 is backwards compatible, working with both USB 3.0 and 2.0. Of course, when you use it with USB 2.0, the hard drive can only hit a maximum theoretical limit of 480Mb/s, while the USB 3.0 pushes the ceiling to 5Gb/s. Keep in mind this is a theoretical maximum of USB 3.0, and is not necessarily a reflection of the actual performance of the Silicon Armor A30 1TB. The input itself is located by the top left-hand corner, which is conveniently also protected by the corner bumper. Located on the top right hand corner is a multi-colored activity LED. It stays lit when powered on, and blinks during disk activity, whether read or write. When it is connected via USB 3.0, it glows a bright blue, while otherwise it glows red.
Flipping the Silicon Power Armor A30 1TB to its backside, we can see there is not much to really point out. Of course, there are the regular standards and compliance badges, as well as a "Made In Taiwan" label engraved to the back. Above this is the driver capacity, as well as small wording saying USB 3.0. On the back, there are also four small plastic nubs protruding out a bit more to provide some feet to stand on. If you cannot see it in the picture above, it is okay. No, you are not going blind, as even I almost missed it when holding it in my hands. They are in fact very tiny, and do nothing to really hold it on the table. Both the size and material of the nubs make for insufficient surface friction, and therefore it kind of is pointless to even put it there in the first place. The only function I think it performs is lifting the Armor A30 it ever so slightly to prevent small debris from scratching the surface, but even this is kind of stretching it.
Knocking on the product itself produces a slightly hollow sound again, which makes me believe the internal hard drive is not pressed against the wall of the enclosure, but rather has a bit of a cushion inside. Overall in terms of ruggedness, I would say the Armor A30 is a bit of a mixed bag. On the good side, we know Silicon Power has done their own tests and have dropped it from three meters high onto a "hard floor" (According to their video). Their military-tested sticker is also found on their box as well as the website, stating a MIL-STD-810G METH-516.5. The METH-516.5 refers to the method number, and not any recreational drugs used, which relates to shocks. A quick Google search will reveal this means the material is able to withstand infrequent, non-repetitive shocks or vibrations. On the other hand, the Silicon Power Armor A30 does not feel as sturdy in the hands compared to the ADATA DashDrive Durable HD650. The slippery surface also makes me a bit uneasy, even with the inclusion of the rubber sides. Of course, if you are not satisfied with the durability testing from Silicon Power, they also provide a complimentary three year warranty with the hard drive.
Measuring in at 134mm in length, 87.5mm in width, and 18.6mm in thickness, the Silicon Power Armor A30 1TB is quite slim, considering it is a shockproof drive. It also weighs in at 181g, which feels comfortable to hold in the hand. The smoothness of the whole drive makes the thing a bit difficult to hold, but luckily due to its shape, it is more contoured to the hand. The grips also provide an anchor for my hands, which is also helpful. The final thing to note on the back are the four small Philips-head screws in each corner, which can be easily removed. Luckily, I had more time than not, so I decided to open up the Silicon Power Armor A30 to take a look at what is inside.
Popping the screws off one by one, the two plastic sides came off easily, revealing the orange internals. I guess those corners were more than skin deep, as the entire hard drive is actually sitting in the orange silicone. The top plastic piece also has a rubber square between the side and the hard drive to provide some shock absorption. Looking at the innards, we see this is a Seagate ST1000LM024 HN-M101MBB, but is also marketed as a Samsung Spinpoint M8, hence the Samsung branding. Inside is a 1TB 5400RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s laptop hard drive with 8MB cache. There are two platters inside, with 500GB per platter, making it quite dense. Also, if you look over at the ADATA DashDrive Durable HD650 500GB, you will notice these specifications are quite similar, besides the total capacity, thus making for a great speed race. As these reviews are being released one after the other, you will find both results on the next pages of graphs.
Our test configuration as follows:
CPU: Intel Core i5-2500K @ 4.50GHz
CPU Cooling: Thermaltake WATER2.0 Pro (Noctua NF-F12)
Motherboard: ASUS P8P67 WS Revolution
RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws-X F3-14900CL9D-8GBXL 4x4GB
Graphics: Gigabyte Radeon HD 7870 2GB OC
Chassis: Lian Li PC-B12
Storage: OCZ Vertex 3 Max IOPS 240GB; Western Digital Caviar Blue AAKS 500GB
Power: PC Power & Cooling Silencer Mk III 1200W
Sound: Auzentech X-Fi Bravura
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Professional x64 SP1
Compared Hardware:
- Silicon Power Armor A30 1TB (USB 3.0)
- ADATA DashDrive Durable HD650 500GB (USB 3.0)
- ADATA DashDrive Elite UE700 64GB (USB 3.0)
- ADATA DashDrive HV620 1TB (USB 3.0)
- Kingston DataTraveler Locker+ G2 32GB (USB 2.0)
- Kingston DataTraveler Locker+ G3 32GB (USB 3.0)
- Kingston DataTraveler HyperX 3.0 64GB (USB 3.0)
- Kingston DataTraveler Ultimate 3.0 G2 32GB (USB 3.0)
- Kingston DataTraveler Ultimate 3.0 G3 32GB (USB 3.0)
- Kingston DataTraveler Vault Privacy 3.0 32GB (USB 3.0)
- OCZ Rally2 Turbo 4GB (USB 2.0)
- Patriot Supersonic Magnum 64GB (USB 3.0)
- Patriot Supersonic Rage XT 32GB (USB 3.0)
- Patriot Stellar 64GB (USB 3.0)
Page Index
1. Introduction and Specifications
2. A Closer Look, Test System
3. Benchmark: AIDA64 Disk Benchmark
4. Benchmark: ATTO Disk Benchmark
5. Benchmark: Crystal Disk Mark 3.0
6. Benchmark: HD Tach 3.0.1.0
7. Benchmark: HD Tune Pro 4.60
8. Conclusion
