INTRODUCTION

   Although thanks to advancements made by technology miniaturization seems to be the future of electronics we can't really say the same about data since with the introduction of the Blu-ray format a few years back and the relatively recent appearance of the much heavier 2k/4k standards (not to mention the huge game downloads from Steam that people need to backup) the need for ultra-high capacity storage has reached unprecedented levels. Now the good news is that some of the leading manufacturers have already introduced 3.5" HDDs with capacities up to 10TB and 2.5" HDDs that go all the way to 3TB so at least for now it seems that things are in check. Capacity however is not the only thing one needs to look for when in the market for a brand new portable hard drive since accidentally dropping it while in a hurry is not a far-fetched scenario. Today we're taking a look at the 2TB model of my favorite 2.5" PHD in the market (to date that is), the A80 by Silicon Power.

   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.

   The A80 is no stranger to us since roughly 2 years ago we received the 1TB model which really blew us away not only thanks to its impressive read & write performance but also thanks to its IEC 529 IPX7 shockproof housing which provides the highest protection we've seen so far for a 2.5" portable hard drive. To be more precise the housing of the A80 is virtually waterproof (1m underwater test), dustproof, shockproof (conforms to the MIL-STD-810F 516.5 procedure IV - also 300cm drop certified) and can even withstand pressure of up to 300kg (back when we reviewed the 1TB variant of the A80 i passed over it with my car). If you've been reading our PHD reviews lately then you know that we've mentioned quite a few times in the past that we'd love to test the 2TB variant of the A80 PHD to see how it compares with all the other 2TB models released by Silicon Power so since it's finally here let's do exactly that.

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

Exactly like in the past the Armor A80 is shipped inside a small cardboard package with a large cut out section at the front from where you can take a look at the product and the main features printed next to it.

A list showcasing how many media files one can squeeze in 1 and 2TB is placed at the left side 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.

Along with the Armor A80 PHD you will also receive the user manual and a USB 3.0 cable.

THE ARMOR A80 2TB

The A80 is not a small PHD (although not really large either) so its housing measures 139mm in length, 94mm in width and 18.1mm in height while weighing 270g.

One of the things that sets apart the A80 from most PHDs in the market is the use of a full USB 3.0 port.

An long opening at the right side of the housing is used to store a USB 3.0 cable which although 1/3 of the length of the normal one still it can be used to connect the drive with laptops, tablets and notebooks.

Several certification logos along with the drive capacity and country of manufacture are placed at the rear.

Silicon Power has used the same drive as with the A30 so once again we see the SATA III ST2000LM003 2.5" HDD model by Seagate/Samsung which has a rotational speed of 5400RPM with a total of 32MB Cache. Also as you can see Silicon Power has covered it with 3 rubber spacers rendering it virtually impervious to shocks.

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 November 11th 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

   The Silicon Power Armor A80 1TB model has been my favorite portable hard drive for the last 2 years and although it doesn't feature the highest possible storage capacity its aluminum rugged exterior makes up for that since when i backup something onto a drive i need to know that it will stay safe/secure even if the entire building was to fall on it. Of course when Silicon Power announced that they would be upgrading their PHD lines with 2TB HDDs roughly half a year ago i couldn't wait to see how faster the new A80 would be and as you can clearly see from our charts i wasn't mistaken since it's amongst the 2 fastest PHDs we've tested to date (both of which by Silicon Power). I hope that eventually Silicon Power will put a solid state drive in the housing of the A80 (or a similar one) since many people are looking to get such products lately but until that day comes the regular A80 models are the way to go.

   Regular 2TB portable hard drives are not really expensive but when you get a model featuring a rugged exterior and very fast read/write performance you obviously expect to pay a premium for it. Fortunately Silicon Power doesn't see it that way so currently the Armor A80 2TB USB 3.0 PHD retails for just USD109.99 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and for 125.30Euros inside the EU (Amazon.de). The Armor A80 2TB USB 3.0 portable hard drive by Silicon Power combines everything from excellent performance to an rugged aluminum housing that keeps the drive inside safe at all times and that's why we're awarding it with our Platinum Award.

PROS

- Superior Build Quality
- Design
- Military Grade Enclosure (Waterproof/Shockproof/Anti-Dust/Anti-Pressure)
- Excellent Performance
- Temperatures
- 2 USB 3.0 Cables
- SP Widget (Free Download From Silicon Power)
- Price (For Some)

CONS

- None