Pros: I have been using this drive to store backup images of my personal machines. Most of my usage has been writes only which has been getting about 140MB/s transfer rate (from internal SSD). The internal drive is 5400RPM and runs very cool at 22C. The case itself is very rugged, but I'm not inclined to be testing the waterproofing or shock features. However, I do occasionally take it with me in my soft laptop bag and I like the idea that it sustain a lot of force. I also like the built in USB 3.0 cord that tucks away so I don't have to always carry an additional cord or hunt for it.

Cons: A bit pricey overall - been using Silicon Power SSDs and have been very happy with the brand.

Pros: This portable hard drive is quite a little package packed with tons of ruggedness keeping the hard drive safe from falls and water. For a portable hard drive I look for first and foremost portability, performance and how well it can sustain regular day-to-day handling/mishandling. This hard drive lives up to all of these three parameters described above. Silicon Power being a small company should not be taken lightly as they have been making hard-drives & memory components that are on par with other major brands.

1. Portability: This 2TB HDD is well packaged in a shock-proof, dust & water-proof casing that is made to withstand up to 3m drops and 300kg stress tests. In order to achieve all that and remain portable is a challenge but has been accomplished very well by the outer casing design. A tine space on the side of the HDD is reserved for a 4” USB 3.0 cable, which means no lugging around extra bulk in the backpack or no forgetting the cable to connect the HDD.

2. Performance: This HDD packaged inside is 5400 rpm spinning laptop 2.5” HDD with a SATA 600 transfer mode and USB 3.0 interface. Transfer rates measured by ATTO and CrystalDiskMark are ~140MB/sec for both read and write processes. Comparing this to other USB 3.0 interfaced spinning HDD that I own this controller has over 40% performance boost. For a layman who performs regular backups, this should be a plenty sufficient. For gamers and SSD owners this is not that great performance for comparison, but it would be unfair comparison as this is meant to be a huge walking library of personal files and not the primary HDD for OS and gaming.

3. Ruggedness: I have dropped it unintentionally three time from ~ 1m/3ft, where this has survived blunt falls with no effect in its performance. The outer casing looks like it is made up of aluminum alloy with shock proofing between it and the HDD. There are no openings for ventilation except for the USB interface to be consistent with the waterproof claims. A small rubber like material covers this USB interface for water proofing that port which needs to be opened for inserting the included cables.

4. Space/Price: The current pricing of ~$0.0525/GB is very reasonable cost for a portable HDD with tons of extras as mentioned above. Comparing to other major portable HDD manufacturers this is a steal for your money. Don’t be put off by Silicon Power as having smaller market space in the computer memory sector as they are the next disrupter for cheap memory for great performance.

5. Warranty: 3 years warranty on a portable hard drive exceeds similar offerings from major manufacturers on desktop HDDs.

Cons: Size: The size is slightly larger than other portables HDD by 10mm in terms of width and length and by 5mm in terms of thickness. Again this extra space is smartly taken up by the excellent padding to the HDD giving it its ruggedness. I think I will be easily able to compromise this small size differential to its survival for many years of ownership. One must also note that this has a compartment for a USB 3.0 cable that tucks conveniently on one side.

Pros: Silicon Power's Armor A80 USB 3.0 is a military grade portable hard drive which is waterproof, dust-proof, and can withstand serious drops. It will keep your data safe and provide fast access with its USB 3.0 connection. The 2TB size of the A80 provides me with more than enough backup space. It will serve as a great Time Machine storage device, or even better as a CabonCopyCloner source that will exactly duplicate my computer’s drive. The connecting cable is securely stored, out of the way, in a recess. The Silicon Power Armor A80 portable hard drive offers very fast performance. The drive is compact and nice-looking. It makes an excellent portable drive for travellers and home offices alike.

Cons: None

Other Thoughts: With this drive and CarbonCopyCloner I was able to perfectly migrate all my files from my former internal drive into a brand new drive in under eight hours. Fantastic!!

Pros: The blue shell you see in the photos is billet aluminum carved into a one-piece shell, sand-blasted, and anodized. Very nice texture to it and since it's sand-blasted instead of brushed it won't show oily fingerprint stains. Wipe it clean every now and then and it'll always look as good as the day you got it.

Opening it reveals how almost perfect the water-resistant seal is with one exception I'll go over in the cons. The seal goes all the way around the interior housing on both sides leaving no chance of water getting through aside from the possible exception afore mentioned.

Not an SSD, but for these volumes you would not expect that. The model tested as the review header should show is the 2TB model which is very fast for a HDD, especially a 2.5" HDD.

Shock pads surround the HDD effectively, a nice soft rubber with plenty of flex and compression to it in every possible direction.

Most surprising of all is the USB3.0 to SATA Data/Power circuit board and chip are well optimized. Easily surpassing most USB3.0 flash drives out there for sequential speeds which is amazing. This would make an excellent on the go drive for recording 1080p video, or at least transcoding from the recording drive to this on the fly. Let these CDM benchmarks justify that:

USB3.0 500MB 5-pass Read / Write in MB/s:
131.5 / 130.9 Sequential
42.21 / 62.56 512K Random
0.491 / 1.561 4K Random
0.562 / 1.570 4K Random Queue-Depth 32

USB2.0 500MB 5-pass Read / Write in MB/s:
31.59 / 34.78 Sequential
22.36 / 34.36 512K Random
0.479 / 1.522 4K Random
0.526 / 1.544 4K Random Queue-Depth 32

Also comes with a 2' long USB3.0 M/A to M/A aside from the 2" one shown on the side.

Cons: There are two key faults in this design. The first is the afore mentioned fault with the water seal. The only way I can see water getting in is through the USB port. Now this port has a rubber cap that fits rather snuggly inside the port. If there was some kind of snapping or locking clamp involved then that port cap wouldn't worry me at all. However the cap is made of the same soft rubber used for the shock pads around the drive and is very snug in that port. I wouldn't intentionally test it's ability to prevent water getting into the enclosure, but it should offer at least the protection described.

The other fault I'm concerned with is the material used for the side covers. It's not a brittle plastic, but it is plastic. It'll certainly crack and/or break with sufficient force, but should survive the kind of impact described.

Other Thoughts: Now combine the two cons and you have the potential that if the drive were dropped on the side with the USB port cover into a puddle on the side of the street; you could very well crack the side cover, dislodge the port cover, and water splashes in. Dead drive? No... it's not powered. Open up one side, put it all in a ziplock bag with a piece of bread on top and set it in a closet or other confined place with a small heater running for about 8 hours. The warmth will evaporate any water that got on the circuitry as well as around the drive itself. The bread will absorb the evaporated water. Now you should go over the circuitry on the board and the drive for debris and smudges. Put it all back together and it should work fine provided it survived the shock which is likely. All that said, this situation is highly unlikely. If you are fiddling with the drive in such a way this could happen, it's a niche circumstance at best. It's likely going to be tucked into some pocket or pouch in your laptop bag, getting pressed into other luggage when traveling. This level of protection is actually rather overkill for typical stowage situations.

Now if you check my other reviews you'll learn I love poking holes in others. This is no exception as in only two reviews we have one case of user error to redeem: The drive only goes to sleep if your system allows it in your power profile. If you disable HDD spindown and set prevent system idling to sleep, this will not happen. Two options, both system configurations, and neither having anything to do with the quality of the product. Perhaps best to ask about these things or contact support before posting a review that cannot be edited or deleted without contacting Newegg support.

Pros: Looks as solid as described in the product description.

Cons: Set up the device as a backup for my system.
Each night at 3am, selected directories are backed up automatically.
The drive falls asleep/locks up during the backup process.
Much corruption is occurring.
When I disconnect the drive and re-connect, I have to run a check disk on the drive to repair all the errors on it.

So far, I am not impressed, and will continue to back up my files on my old back up drive; I seriously do not feel confident with this drive to store important files to keep them safe.