INTRODUCTION

   I've always believed that having an excessive amount of free HDD space available around is always a lot better than to need it and not have it so whenever someone comes up to me and tells me that he/she plans on purchasing a new model to replace the old and smaller one i always say to also keep the old one either as a secondary drive or as an external backup drive even if they think there's no point in doing that. That being said when it comes to portable needs most people will never even fully utilize a 500GB portable hard drive but there are quite a few people that will do so and to them a 1TB PHD is really a one way. Capacity however is not the only important thing when we're talking about portable hard drives, the enclosure also pays a significant role since it's responsible for the health of the drive inside so it's always preferable to choose one of the rugged models that offer superior protection. The Armor A30 by Silicon Power is the latest addition in their Armor line of PHDs and today we will be taking a thorough look at it.

   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.

   As revealed by the number in the name of the product the plastic housing of the Armor A30 is the 2nd most powerful one in the Armor line and so although unlike the majority of the drives in the market it can withstand drops from up to 122cm based on the USA military standard (MIL-STD 810G) it's really no match for its larger brother the aluminum Armor A80. This time over under the hood of the Armor A30 Silicon Power has placed the Seagate ST1000LM024 an 2.5" 1TB SATA II HDD that features a rotational speed of 5400RPM along with 16MB Cache. That which really separates the Armor A30 from the rest of the Armor line however is the somewhat strange way Silicon Power designed the enclosure so the USB 3.0 cable can be attached to the enclosure externally when not used (check the above image). This is not something that I’m particularly fond of about the Armor A30 but the rugged housing more than just makes up for that. As for its performance well that's something that we just need to wait and see.