Final Thoughts:
The Armor A30 is a great choice for travelers, sports enthusiasts or anyone else needing a rugged, yet affordable, portable hard drive. Silicon Power's new drive is good looking, well constructed and is equipped with an advanced internal hard drive suspension system designed to meet the U.S. military drop-test standards. This simple, yet effective system utilizes a shock-resistant silica gel which extends outside the drive's case to protect the corners and serve as a place to store the cable when not in use. For a portable drive, the Armor A30 also packs some impressive performance. Thanks to its USB 3.0 interface, it was able to read and write at speeds in excess of 120 MB/s. The Armor A30 is also backwards compatible with USB 2.0, but, as you saw in our tests, it's much slower when operating in this mode.
Aside from it not being dust or water-proof, the only real issue I have with the Armor A30 is that it's not entirely scratch resistant. Only the top of the drive is protected by the scratch resistant, hexagonal patterned surface. The rest of the case is made out of plastic and will eventually become scratched from everyday use.
The 500GB, 1TB and 2TB versions of the Armor A30 are available now and can be purchased from Amazon.com for as little as $53.
Highs:
- Available in 500GB, 1TB and 2TB capacities
- Fast transfer rates with USB 3.0
- Backwards compatible with USB 2.0
- Good looking and well constructed design
- Advanced internal hard drive suspension system
- Meets the U.S. military drop-test standards
- Top of the drive has scratch-resistant, hexagonal patterned surface
- USB powered
- Works with SP Widget software
- Cable carry design
- Reasonably priced
- 3 Year Warranty
Lows:
- Design is not water or dust proof
- Entire case is not scratch resistant
