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.

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

Just like with most PHDs by Silicon Power you can take a look at the drive from the clear plastic opening at the front of the box.

All of the product features are printed at the rear in 14 languages right above the specifications table, the bundle contents and the OS compatibility list.

Just like with the 1TB variant the bundle is very limited so aside the A30 and the USB 3.0 cable you are also getting a user’s manual.

THE ARMOR A30 2TB

The housing of the Armor A30 is made out of hard plastic and silicon and is available in black/orange and white/grey colors.

The wrap-around design is based on 4 silicon holders placed on the 3 sides of the A30.

A normal sized USB 3.0 port is placed at the front.

Printed at the rear are the model capacity, country of manufacture and several warning/certification logos.

The ST2000LM003 2.5" HDD model by Seagate/Samsung rotates at 5400RPM, has a total of 32MB Cache and is SATA III compatible.

TEST BED

TESTING METHODOLOGY

   Keeping things simple so even people new in the field of computers can understand will always be our way so once again our testing procedure is almost exactly the same as the one we use with 2.5/3.5" external docking stations. This time however we will be comparing the product at hand with a wide range of 2.5" portable drives and standalone 2.5" enclosures all of which were benched using a HGST 7K750 SATA II hard disk drive. Our standard selection of benchmark suites is used here as well including the famous HD Tach RW (Long Bench 32mb Zones), HD Tune Pro (read/write -when possible- speeds), Sisoftware Sandra Pro (Read/Write - also when possible- speeds), AIDA64 (Linear Read/Random Read), Crystal Disk Mark x64 (100MB/1000MB read/write speeds) and finally the quite outdated yet highly reliable ATTO 2.47 (Max Read/Max Write speeds). Every test was repeated for a total of 6 times and after that the average (not peak) numbers were recorded into our charts. As always every test was performed in a fresh installation of Microsoft Windows 7 Service Pack 1 with every update installed up to October 24th 2014.

TEST RESULTS - AIDA64 / ATTO

TEST RESULTS - HD TACH RW / HD TUNE PRO

TEST RESULTS - SISOFTWARE SANDRA PRO / CRYSTAL DISK MARK X64

TEST RESULTS - TEMPERATURES

CONCLUSION

   I've been testing portable hard drives for a long time now and i have to admit that the performance gap between 1TB and 2TB models is something we didn't see back when we moved from 500GB to 1TB models. Now of course I’m not complaining or anything since performance is one of the things we hope for when testing storage devices but i just thought i'd share this with all of you (not that you can't tell simply by looking at one of our charts in this review). Moving back to the A30 2TB well not really much to say aside that it's simply put the fastest 2TB USB 3.0 portable hard drive we've tested to date. Now we're also expecting my favorite Armor A80 2TB model which features a much more rugged housing and thus is suitable for much harsher environments but we don't know what to expect in terms of performance.

   2TB portable hard drives may cost quite a bit more compared to 1TB ones but they are still very aggressively priced so currently the Armor A30 2TB USB 3.0 Portable Hard Drive retails for USD107.99 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and for 115Euros inside the EU (Amazon.de). Now the price is right but it's right next to what you'd have to pay to get the much more rugged (in my opinion) A80 and that complicates things a bit. We have yet to test the A80 2TB however so since the A30 2TB model offers very good protection and excellent performance you really can't really go wrong with it and that's why it gets our Platinum Award.

PROS

- Build Quality
- Design
- Size
- Military Grade Rugged Enclosure (Shock/Drop-proof)
- Excellent Performance
- Low Temperatures
- SP Widget (Free Download From Silicon Power)

CONS

- Design May Not Appeal To Everyone
- Price (Compared To That of the A60/A80)