Home Consumer Silicon Power Armor A66 Review

Silicon Power Armor A66 Review

by Conner Crull
silicon power a66 front image

Silicon Power has recently sent us their new all-around tough portable HDD for review. The Silicon Power A66 comes in multiple different capacities: 1TB, 2TB, 4TB, and even 5TB. The A66 is designed for tough conditions in the field with a drop rating of 1.22 meters and an IPX4 water-resistant rating.

Silicon Power has recently sent us their new all-around tough portable HDD for review. The Silicon Power A66 comes in multiple different capacities: 1TB, 2TB, 4TB, and even 5TB. The A66 is designed for tough conditions in the field with a drop rating of 1.22 meters and an IPX4 water-resistant rating.

silicon power a66 front image

This drive was designed for rugged conditions, but also has a sleek design so as to not stand out in the office. These portable HDD’s also have an advanced suspension system to increase shock absorption. Along with the unique build element embedded into the inside of the A66, there shouldn’t be many places where data is at risk due to bumps and bruises with this drive.

These guys start at $69.99 for the 2TB capacity at Amazon.

Silicon Power Armor A66 Specifications

Capacity 1TB, 2TB, 4TB, 5TB
Dimensions 139.2mm x 96.0mm x 16.2mm (1TB/2TB), 139.2mm x 96.0mm x 24.0mm (4TB/5TB)
Weight 209g (1TB/2TB), 328g (4TB/5TB)
Material Rubber + Plastic
Colors Black/Black, Black/Blue, Black/Yellow
Interface USB 3.2 Gen 1 (USB 3.0, USB 2.0 backwards-compatible)
Support OS Windows 10/8.1/8/7/Vista/XP 64-Bit, Mac OS 10.5.x, Linux 2.6.x

*Reformatting required for use with Mac OS

Operating Temperature 5°C – 55°C
Storage Temperature -40°C – 70°C
Operation Voltage DC 5V
Certifications CE, FCC, BSMI, Green dot, WEEE, RoHS, KC, RCM
Warranty 3 years

Silicon Power Armor A66 Design and Build

The design and build of this external, portable hard drive have been very solid. There are a couple of layers that protect that physical hard drive. As shown in the exploded diagram below.

silicon power a66 breakdown

On the inside, Silicon Power has designed an advanced suspension system for the drive ensuring that all impact that the unit sustains is reduced. The advanced suspension system also increases shock absorption to ensure that the data on the drive is well maintained and isn’t lost upon impacts. This suspension system is largely due to the silicone that protects the drive.

This drive comes with an IPX4-level water-resistant shield that ensures that the drive is able to handle water that comes at it in any direction. With this rating of IPX4, it is important to remember that this means that the drive isn’t water-resistant once fully submerged. The rating of IPX4 means that if water is splashed on it in any direction, it will be resistant to it. The biggest factor that makes this drive only water-resistant is shown below. The cover for the USB port cover of this drive is pushed into the silicone, it doesn’t snap or lock into place. This is largely what makes the drive only have a water-resistant rating as opposed to a waterproof rating.

silicon power a66 usb port

The drive also has a handy notch on the top of the case. This notch is used to hold the USB 3.2 Gen 1 cable in place so that it can’t get lost. When we tested the notch, the cable actually stays in the grove fairly well. Rest assured that there isn’t going to be a problem of losing this small cable as long as it is tucked into the drive.

silicon power 5tb front

Silicon Power Armor A66 Performance

For our performance testing, we used Blackmagic’s popular Disk Speed Test. We did test both drives that we received. The 2TB A66 that we tested was able to get 112.4MB/s read and 117.1MB/s write, which is okay for a 2.5″ hard drive.

silicon power a66 2tb benchmark

For the 5TB A66, it tested at 113.4MB/s read and 119.2MB/s write. These speeds aren’t the fastest, however, that isn’t the main selling point of this drive.

silicon power a66 5tb benchmark

Our next and last test is IOMeter, which we ran single-threaded. The performance is in line with what we expect from a consumer 2.5-inch drive. It won’t seem at all impressive if you’re used to looking at solid-state drive benchmarks, but again the most unique aspect of this portable HDD is the build and design aspect of this drive.

IOMeter (1-Thread)                                                 2TB Model
Test Result
2MB sequential write 117.7MB/s
2MB sequential read 120.3MB/s
2MB random write 112.5MB/s
2MB random read 47.3MB/s
4K random write 2,085.3 IOPS
4K random read 102.8 IOPS
IOMeter (1-Thread)                                                  5TB Model
Test Result
2MB sequential write 117.6MB/s
2MB sequential read 121.5MB/s
2MB random write 110.9MB/s
2MB random read 114.9MB/s
4K random write 2393.5 IOPS
4K random read 280 IOPS

Conclusion

The Silicon Power A66 is the newest tough portable hard drive released by the company. With its all-terrain tough protective shell, this HDD can be taken most places with the peace of mind of data not being at risk due to physical damage. silicon power a66 back

In terms of the performance aspect, this isn’t the quickest drive but the performance of this drive did what we expected given the 2.5″ HDD inside.  At 120MB/s, the transfer speeds are good enough for offloading media content or housing video games, for instance.

Of course, there are other many options in this space, like the SanDisk’s G-Drive ArmorATD we reviewed not long ago. The A66 though is less expensive though, starting at $70, and is still really well-engineered. Also, we like that the cable isn’t fully integrated, giving the user a little more flexibility. Overall, it’s a strong effort for those that need physical data protection but don’t want to spend more than they need to accomplish that goal.

A66 Product Page at Amazon

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