Review of the Silicon Power Armor A85 5TB

External storage has become extremely popular with the introduction of speedier USB standards and flash drives, even if it can be expensive to buy bigger capacity drives. In order to contain a 2.5-inch hard drive and shield it from the environment, the Silicon Power A85 uses an extruded aluminium tube with plastic caps on both ends. Due to its structure, it is exceptionally resilient to shock damage and meets IP68 (but not IP69) specifications for resistance to dust and water infiltration. The Type-A USB port, which is covered with a rubber plug when not in use, is the most likely source of access for dust and water if the A85 is properly sealed, which is a limitation to that protection. Therefore, the cable needs to be pulled out and the plug put in for it to have full protection. [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="1600"] Image credit- TECHTELEGRAPH[/caption] Since Silicon Power doesn't offer a carrying case or pouch for the drive and cable, wherever you opt to store them, the cable will be hanging out with a bulky drive. And that cord is a concern because cables with USB-A connectors on both ends aren't common, making replacement difficult in the event of damage. Also Read: Looks of First Apple Silicon rival By Qualcomm is a must watch Since a USB-C adaptor is not provided, devices having those ports cannot be used right away. The usage of a traditional hard drive, which consumes more power, has sluggish performance for both reading and writing, and is more likely to malfunction if it is dropped than a solid-state mechanism, is the design's fatal flaw. These drawbacks are somewhat offset by the remarkably cheap prices of hard drives with capacities of up to 5TB, which are considerably less expensive than comparable SSD drives. [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="1600"] Image credit- TECHTELEGRAPH[/caption] Silicon Power offers an SP HDD Lock utility as part of the support package for this product, which enables the drive's data to be password-protected, however we were unable to get it to recognise the drive. We could be mistaken, but even if it were to function, it would appear to employ software rather than the drive's hardware encryption feature. The drawbacks of this kind of security strategy include the fact that, after the drive has been altered by the application, only computers that have the utility installed can access it. You cannot input the password without it. Use of Microsoft's BitLocker capability, which is currently built into Windows 10 and 11 operating systems, would be a viable solution. Overall, this is a low-cost option that is perfect for people who need to transport a lot of data but aren't worried with read/write speed or proprietary cables. Given the recent decline in the price of NAND Flash, it might not take long before external SSDs are available with capacities equal to or greater than those of the A85. But in the present, this seems like a reasonable option.