INTRODUCTION

   In my entire life I’ve only known two people working as DJs in large clubs so i can't claim to have a really good knowledge of how they work and what they use. Still one of them was talking about that a few days back and i was surprised to hear that they also have storage space issues like A/V professionals. Their needs may not exactly be the same since A/V professionals carry video material around with them that could mean several dozen GB for each file whereas DJs just need to have audio media with them that simply can't compare in size but since they always need to carry entire collections with them size is an issue. The good news is that compared to even a couple of years ago things have improved quite a bit and so now many peripherals manufacturers have 2TB portable hard drive models available in their product lines which are capable of holding most data anyone would need while away from home. Today on our test bench we have the latest member of the Armor line of PHDs by Silicon Power the A30 2TB model.

   Silicon Power Computer & Communications Inc., founded in 2003 by a group of enthusiastic specialists of flash data storage industry. Well dedicated in brand image and product quality, SP 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. With superior quality and innovative design, our products stood out in several competitions and awarded Taiwan Excellence and COMPUTEX Design & Innovation Award in 2009 and 2010. Winning trust of global consumers SP holds a record of successive double-digit revenue growth for last seven years. For SP, the product we introduced is not only a digital storage device but also a real promise to create and preserve your most valuable memory in every moment.

   This is not the first A30 PHD we've received since we did test the 1TB capacity model a while ago so once again we see a rugged plastic/silicone housing (available in black/orange and white/grey colors) which can withstand drops from a height of up to 122cm (300cm test also passed) based on the USA military standard (MIL-STD 810G) and a wrap-around design for the USB 3.0 cable. Unlike back then however this time Silicon Power has used the Seagate/Samsung Momentus/SpinPoint M9T (ST2000LM003) 2.5" (9.5mm thick) 2TB SATA III HDD that features a rotational speed of 5400RPM along with 32MB of Cache. In the end we've learned time and again that rotational speed is not everything so let's check and see just how the latest Armor A30 2TB can compare to the other 2TB PHDs we've tested so far.