Silicon Power 1TB Rugged Portable External Hard Drive Armor A80, Waterproof USB 3.0 for PC, Mac, Xbox and PS4, Blue

Ive purchased three of these drives recently, all from Silicon Power USA - Deal Site. One of the selling points was that theyre advertised as being compatible with Windows, OS X and Linux. But Ive had nothing but problems with them, and Im starting to suspect that the reason has to do with this supposed cross-compatibility. The first drive I received came in a damaged retail package, so I was skeptical that it would work from the beginning. But I kept the drive, transferred about 500 GB of data to it, and after just 2 days it failed completely. I was primarily using it with a Macbook Pro, although I was also connecting it to a Windows 7 laptop (and I also run Linux on my Macbook through a virtual machine). The first indication of trouble was when I could still see the top level file structure on the drive (when using the Macbook), but if I clicked on any particular folder it would show as empty. Then when I swapped the USB cable and reconnected the drive, it wasnt recognized at all. If I tried to connect it to my Windows 7 laptop it was recognized, but I would get a message asking me to reformat the drive. Then before I could troubleshoot further, the drive started making a loud grinding noise. Well, into the trash it went. At this point let me mention that when using these drives with Windows 7, there doesnt seem to be an Eject function. You just unplug the drive when youre done using it, then reconnect it whenever you wish and its recognized again, so they seem to be hot swappable with Windows 7 at least. No problems and no error messages. However, when using them with my Macbook there is an Eject feature, and if you dont use it the Macbook will give you an error message saying that the drive wasnt disconnected properly and that it will attempt to repair the damage the next time its connected. Now Im having trouble with a second drive. Once again the trouble started after I transferred about 500 GB of data to the drive. The first thing I noticed was that the drive seemed to be disconnecting itself, because I would receive the error message that the drive hadnt been properly disconnected when I hadnt even touched the drive. The next problem I noticed was that once again I was able to view the top level file structure, but if I tried to click on the folders some of them would show as empty. At that point I called Amazon customer service because I was thinking of returning the drive. After speaking to a very nice woman I decided to keep the drive and observe it a bit longer because at that point it was the only drive that I had my data files on (I ordered the third drive when the first one failed, but hadnt had a chance to back up the files yet). Well, about an hour after I got off the phone with her that second drive failed too, meaning, when I tried to connect it to my Macbook it was no longer recognized. When I tried to connect it to my Windows 7 laptop, it was recognized, but just as before I received a message asking me to reformat the drive. Instead I used Disk Management (located under Control Panel/System & Security/Administrative Tools/Computer Management) to try to look at the drive, and found that the file system was shown as being RAW instead of FAT32. Some quick research on the Internet suggested this problem was being caused due to bad file system info on either the MBR Partition Table or the Volumes Boot Sector. Working under the assumption that the data was still there (which only makes sense because I never deleted it), I downloaded and installed PC Inspector File Recovery (after first trying about a dozen other freeware file recovery programs) and it immediately detected the logical name of the drive and all of the file structure. When I clicked on the top level folders, the contents seemed to be correct. Im currently using this program (PC Inspector File Recovery) to try to recover as much data off the drive as possible. One lesson Ive learned, is that you shouldnt be running any other programs while youre doing this, and if the program stalls, just wait until it starts working again. If you try to force the program to close you might have partial corruption of your data. Depending on the results, I may try this again using a licensed file recovery program. And if I can recover my data off the drive, I will then try to reformat it to see if its still usable. At this point Ive heard it make a few clicking noises while operating, but nothing like the grinding noises I heard from the other drive before it failed. I dont know whether to blame Apple or Silicon Power, but my experience leads me to believe that these portable hard drives arent entirely compatible with OS X. Also, I dont believe these Silicon Power drives are nearly as rugged as they claim to be. ------- This is an update to my earlier post. I spent hours tonight researching portable hard drives, and finally decided to order two (2) replacement drives from Toshiba - their Canvio 3.0 portable hard drives. When I last called Amazon customer service the woman I spoke to recommended Toshiba, and it seems she was correct. Theyre 1.5 TB drives, compatible with both Windows and Macs, and they even offer an Internal Shock Sensor to protect the drive heads in case theyre bumped or dropped while in use. There are several drives from other manufacturers (some of them extremely expensive) that claim to offer drop or shock protection, but if you read the fine print carefully they are all talking about drives that are not in use. Meanwhile, Ive tried about a dozen more file recovery programs, and the only one that seems even halfway promising is PhotoRec, which works by opening a command line shell. I suppose this might intimidate casual PC users, but Linux is my OS of choice, so for me its very familiar. However, Ill have to wait to finish testing it until the Toshiba portable drives arrive. In the meantime Im continuing to use PC Inspector File Recovery to pull data off of my second failed Silicon Power drive, and all I can say is, this program is saving my life. Ive read complaints that its slow, but its the only freeware program Ive found thus far that located all of my missing files and it also restores them with the correct file structure. Most of the others couldnt even read the drive, and those that could only located a fraction of the missing files. A few last comments: While researching hard drives I discovered that Amazons customer reviews system is deeply flawed. The problem is that if youre trying to research the reliability of say, the Silicon Power A30, well, the short answer is that you cant because the reviews for the A15s and the A80s are all mixed together with the A30s. Ive also noticed this same problem with other manufacturers as well, like Lacie and Western Digital for example - all the reviews for different hard drive models are mixed together. So the way the system works right now, for certain manufacturers good hard drives are ranked lower than they should be, while poor hard drives are ranked higher than they should be. So let the buyer beware. Also, the problems Ive had with files not appearing or even entire drives not being recognized seem to be occurring across many if not all models and manufacturers. Some people think the problem is that hard drive manufacturers are bundling cheap USB cables with their hard drives, while others think the problem might be the USB 3.0 specification itself. I cant say myself whether those speculations are correct or not, but I also have to wonder if hard drive manufacturers arent simply cutting greater corners in the manufacture of todays hard drives, or perhaps a number of Amazons merchants are now selling refurbished drives as new? The reason I say this is that a couple of years ago I used to have an Iomega 1TB eGo BlackBelt and a Silicon Power 1TB A80, and I never had a problem with either one of them. The eGo BlackBelt was dropped numerous times and always worked perfectly, while the A80 was used to transfer files constantly and none of them ever went missing - and those were USB 3.0 drives too. So once again, let the buyer beware. ------- This is my final update. The Toshiba hard drives arrived today, and what a difference. Both retail boxes had three (3) clear plastic seals - one on the top and two on the bottom. It was obvious just by looking at them that they were brand new and had never been used before. In contrast, not one of the three retail boxes from Silicon Power USA - Deal Site were sealed, and even worse, one was actually badly damaged. The Toshiba drives are really small and really light, they are true portable drives, unlike the Silicon Power drives which are as heavy as bricks. I also found it interesting that when I connected them to my Windows laptop, they were recognized almost instantly. The Silicon Power drives take a very long time to be recognized, and something else I just noticed, when they finally connect, a message pops up saying something like the device would work faster if it was connected to a USB 3.0 port. I dont remember exactly, but its almost as if my laptop was telling me that the Silicon Power drives arent really USB 3.0 compliant. Its not something that I really paid attention to before, but since theres no such message when I connect the Toshiba drives it just makes me wonder even more about these Silicon Power drives. The bottom line is that Ive come to the conclusion that Silicon Power USA - Deal Site is selling refurbished drives and passing them off as New. And if anyone doubts that this could be happening, well, let me mention one other problem Ive had on Amazon recently. I was pricing PS3s recently, and I couldnt help but notice that all these dealers who are Fulfilled by Amazon were saying things like Reserve your PS3 today. Additional stock on back order. That really got my attention, because PS3s are no longer being manufactured. So how are these merchants placing them on back order??? Related to this, something else I noticed that was odd, usually a merchants stock goes down over time as sales are made. In contrast, Silicon Power USA - Deal Site seems to have more and more portable drives to sell as time goes by. So Ive come to the conclusion that all of these merchants who are Fulfilled by Amazon - including Silicon Power USA - Deal Site - must be selling refurbished merchandise as New. Are merchants (or Amazon) capable of this type of deception? Well, I recently complained about at least half a dozen merchants who are listing PS3s as New, even though from the product descriptions its obvious that the systems cant be New, because theres no warranty seals and the boxes have been opened for all sorts of ridiculous excuses (system was given a complimentary upgrade, bundle pack was opened to remove game, system was opened to verify contents, etc). That was days ago, and what has Amazon done? Absolutely nothing. So as Ive said time and again, let the buyer beware. And finally, although it took several days, Im happy to report that I was able to recover almost all of my lost data using PC Inspector File Recovery. I was so happy with the results that I didnt even bother to finish testing the freeware program Photorec, or try out any of the proprietary programs. One last comment about using PC Inspector File Recovery, I recommend trying to recover just sections of files at a time instead of the entire drive, and make sure you check on the programs progress from time to time. Sometimes when its done recovering a group of files it will automatically close, but many times it will freeze instead, so youll have to close the program and start it again. This seems to happen especially when its trying to recover a file with a .db file type. It will fail and freeze instead. (Tip: How can you tell if the program is still working but stalled, or if its done but frozen? Go to the drive where youre recovering the data and check to see if the files seem to be complete. Also check to see if the files are being updated every few seconds (file sizes should be increasing) or if the file sizes are remaining static. If the program isnt done copying files and the file sizes are static then its probably stalled and should be left alone. If the files seem to be complete and the file sizes are remaining static, its probably finished recovering but stalled and needs to be restarted. As I said, this happens a lot when the last file type is a .db file type.) No, the program isnt perfect, but it is free and it did get the job done so I cant complain much.

Great product. Works perfectly right out of the box. I run windows (one of the older versions,...not the newest one) and it performs perfectly for me. It didnt require any formatting or anything like that. I stores files easily just like a USB thumb drive...a really BIG thumb drive. I like the fact that it comes with 2 cables, one long (around 18 inches or so) and one short (around 4 or 5 inches.) The short cable has a convenient storage slot built into the side of the hard drive. I usually leave it there and just use the long cable. Mainly, because the short cable really requires a desk or table top of some sort for the hard drive to sit on while using it. Otherwise, if your on a laptop (sitting in a chair or whatever) youd have something roughly the size of a DVD case (but alot heavier) just dangling from a little 4 inch cable. This is why I usually just use the longer cable.

This hard drive looks decent, like the pictures. It is a bit heavy, which is to be expected from a rugged hard drive. The first one I received only showed up about half of the time when plugged into a USB port. I thought that it was a driver problem, but I tried it on 3 different PCs after installing the driver, and it showed up more and more infrequently. Finally after a month it stopped showing up at all, which was just beyond the amazon return period, unfortunately. I was able to receive an RMA number from the companys website, and I mailed the defective unit to Hong Kong (which cost about $12). About 2 weeks later I received a new (or refurbished?) drive, which seems to work well after the first couple of weeks. I was impressed that the company replaced the defective product with a reasonable effort on my part.

The product was delivered as ordered and works well. Its my first USB 3.0 external drive and I am especially pleased with the speed. The drive also appears to be rugged, as advertized. The thicker case makes it a little bulky, but may pay off in the long run in durability. IMPORTANT NOTE: the drive uses a more-or-less proprietary USB cable (full-sized, male on both ends). The cable itself is about 2.5 inches long (or short) and fits securely into a slot in the side of the drive, so it will be hard to lose. The packaging also included an extension cable (which does NOT fit into the drive). I think it would be hard to lose the little cable, but if you do youre going to have to do some searching for a replacement. Why still 5 stars? I picked up on all the quirks before I bought, so I got what I paid for. And did I say that the drive is fast?

There is only one word that comes to mind every time that I see this hard drive, Indestructible. The entire shell is one piece of thick aluminum, which has superior strength against drops, freezing, heat, and water. The port has a durable rubber flap that is a little wider than the port so that that stays snugly closed, which can make it a little difficult to open especially if you dont have fingernails. The side panels also have a thick rubber seal around them; I am sure it will have no problem taking a dip as long as you dont go scuba diving with it. Since it is aluminum it disperses heat and cold around the hard drive instead of through, also the aluminum can withstand a drop from around 6 feet safely, any more and you take a risk, but there should not be any problems from higher. Inside the tough outer case there are rubber/foam shock bumpers around the hard drive on all sides that shift and lessen the shock of a drop. The hard drive itself is a disk/platter type; what is different in this one from the one in your laptop is that when you safely disconnect it from a computer the disk reader and disks lock themselves automatically so that they do not move and cause damage when shock is experienced. The maker of the hard drive is Samsung, but may change from year to year as some other reviewers have stated. It comes formatted in FAT32 and will need to be formatted in NTFS if you plan on storing files bigger than 4GB. System tool work relatively well and can be downloaded for free from their website. Overall this hard drive is one that will surely last you for years to come and can be counted on no matter what life or the environment throws at you,

I have been shopping for the right external hard drive for the last year but never found one I wanted until I found the Silicon Power line. This drive actually far exceeds my needs as I dont expect to drop it off of the roof of my house or leave it out in the rain, but at the same time I felt it couldnt hurt to have that kind of protection. I chose the 1TB Armor A80 which has all the space I need for my photos and my MP3s. It writes and reads very fast with the USB3 connection. While I was researching the specs I could not find reference as to whether or not it worked with Windows 8.1 but several Amazon readers answered that question for me (it does support W8, W7, Vista, XP and 2000 etc) So far I am very pleased with this drive and think its a great value at a mere $80.00. I do recommend this for anyone looking for tough capable storage.

Im using this drive on my Macbook Pro for a time machine backup drive and it does very nicely. Love the short cord that is stored on the device. Easy to travel with and - no hassle remembering and storing a longer cord. (Which is also included in the package.) Also love no external power is needed for this drive to function. I may get another one for video-backup purposes, but would love to see the manufacturer produce another color so I dont confuse the drives. (Superficial wish, I know!) Maybe the new color will be the larger capacity A90 they come out with, so I may wait for that anyway. Maybe people dont tend to want more than one, but I love the size and portability of these - would use them over my older plug-in externals I have. The drive seems fast enough and stores enough for my backup purposes. (Mac only gets USB 2.0) Glad my husband found the review on this drive so I could try it out. Its not a brand Im familiar with but was willing to give it a try once I saw it got good reviews. Id recommend it to others.

The price for this rugged 1tb portable hard drive was very appealing along with the fact that it was the only one that was shock proof and water proof. Not that I am in a high shock or flood potential zone however, anything extra offered in a device such as this and for a cheaper price than the popular WDs and Seagates is refreshing. And to top it off, it is USB 3.0! It came with two USB cords, one very short one, which actually fits into a slot in the side of the unit. Another longer USB cord also comes included. It came formatted in FAT, but all it took was a quick format as NTFS and I was good-to-go. Perhaps the only negetive, which has no bering on the product itself is that it should, or could have come with some sort of stand. I have this unit connected to my home network via my wireless router for storage and access from outside the home. Therefore, it is always plugged in to my router and I would like it to be propped up as my seagte is, which sits in a cool cradle. I will definitely be looking into purchasing more products from Silicon Power!!

This is my second one I bought and I just love this drive. The first was for myself because my old external was on its way out, and I bought the second for my brother who unless given a drive would never have backed up his data. This feels really tough, silent, durable. I am surprised about the few bad drives that people have gotten, but unfortunate hard drives are physical spinning devices and can fail almost out of the box, and manufactures try their best to not have that. Even though the hard drive could be dropped and tossed around, remember they are not infallible, even solid states can have issues. All in all though, it is a great product, built tough, and should last.

This is very easy to use, just plug in, wait for the installer to do its thing and you can get to work. Would recommend not having any other type of flash drive connected when you first plug it in. Nearly had a heart attack when I did and then tried to access my flash drive. It looked like it had been wiped. I unplugged it and reattached it, and it came back normal, bit still could have done without the panic. I havent needed to test the durability of it yet, but it feels and looks like it will live up to the claims.