G-Drive Portable hard drive is relentless under pressure.
Portable hard drives are a great accessory to be able to add to your daily carry-all package. They ensure that you never have to worry about running out of storage space on your working computer and you know you have a backup should your computer fail. The one thing I tend to worry about is a portable hard drive’s fragility. Fortunately, there are high-quality portable hard drives available that are designed to be rugged as well as portable like the SanDisk Professional G-Drive ArmorATD.
DETAILS
The G-Drive ArmorATD portable hard drive is an all-terrain drive with shock, rain, dust, and crush resistance up to 1000 lbs. It’s designed to work hard in difficult environments. The case of the hard drive is made with anodized aluminum so that it’s guaranteed to be rugged. The device is designed to work specifically with macOS out of the box and can be reformatted to work with Windows machines. The hard drive is available with up to 5TB of storage and features USB 3.1 transfer rates up to 140 MB/s. The hard drive is backed with a 3-year limited warranty. The hard drive inside is a 2.5-inch form factor and uses USB-C as its connector. The hard drive is Time Machine compatible and compatible with USB 3.0 and Thunderbolt 3 interfaces. The package includes G-Drive ArmorATD, USB-C cable, USB-C to USB-A cable, and a quick start guide.
SPECS
- Interface: SuperSpeed USB 5Gbps (USB 3.1 Gen 1)
- Connector: USB Type-C
- Drive: (1) 2.5” hard drive
- Data Transfer Rate: 1TB, 2TB: Up to 140MB/s read and 130 MB/s write 4TB: Up to 135MB/s read 125 MB/s write
5TB: Up to 135MB/s read 125 MB/s write - Operating Temperature: 41°-95° F (5°-35°C)
- Size: 1TB, 2TB: 5.12” x 3.43” x 0.83” / 130mm x 87mm x 21mm 4TB, 5TB: 5.20” x 3.46” x 1.18” / 132mm x 88mm x 30mm
- Weight: 1TB, 2TB: 0.51 lbs / 0.23 kg 4TB, 5TB: 0.77 lbs / 0.35 kg
- Operating Systems: macOS 10.12+ (Time Machine Compatible) Windows® 10+ (Via Reformat)
USER EXPERIENCE
The hard drive has a standard retail package. The image on the front of the box features the ArmorATD as well as special details about the product. The back of the box shows a side view of the hard drive with certain parts labeled. The main features (USB-C, Anodized Aluminum enclosure, and pro-grade durability) are shown in a chart that also features several different languages. When you open the box, you will find the hard drive encased in a plastic tray. Beneath the device is a quick start guide, a safety/warranty guide, a USB-C to USB-C cable, and a USB-C to USB-A cable. The hard drive has a rubber/silicone wrap around it that is removable. The quick start guide is illustrated and really just demonstrates how to get it connected to your computer. The hard drive itself is very sturdy. The USB-C port is on the backside of the device and the G-Drive logo is imprinted on the top face of the hard drive.
Operating the hard drive is pretty self-explanatory. You simply plug the USB-C cable into the hard drive, which is hidden behind a rubber flap, and then plug the other end of the cable into your computer (or dock). I was using the USB-C to USB-C cable to connect the ArmorATD to my MacBook Pro. The HD appeared immediately on my desktop as a little hard drive icon. When I opened up the icon, it showed an empty finder window meaning that there was no pre-installed software on the hard drive. I have seen several kinds of hard drives and many of them include their own software, which, in my opinion, is just bloat for the hard drive. Therefore, I was happy to see a 100% blank device.
To test the drive’s performance, I ran a variety of utility apps to assess it. The first thing I did was review the capacity of the HD by opening the Disk Utility app and looking at the capacity bar. The app indicated that there was 852.9MB used and 2TB free. Since the HD’s capacity is supposed to be 2TB, I was surprised to see that there was a full 2TB free. I like that it seems as though SanDisk planned for the minute amount of drive space that would be taken up by the device’s development so that it didn’t affect the actual capacity of the drive.
I also ran the hard drive through the Blackmagic Disk Speed Test and AJA System Test Lite. The Blackmagic Disk Speed Test showed a Read/Write speed of 124.0 MB/s and 120.9 MB/s. And the AJA System Test Lite results showed a similar result. I chose a resolution of 4K-Full with a 16GB test file size and ProRes (HQ) codec. I ended up with a result of 125 MB/s read and 123 MB/s write speed. Finally, I did a real-world speed test. That includes dropping a larger file onto the hard drive and timing how long it takes to transfer over. I chose a file that was 2.2GB in size. It took 20.13 seconds to transfer over. That equaled a charging rate of 0.11GB/s (or 110MB/s). I thought these speeds were a little below average so I pulled up my System Profiler and remembered that the USB-C ports on the MBP were USB 3.1 and that they could provide transfer speed up to 5 Gb/s, which is the ArmorATD’s top transfer speed. The specs of the hard drive indicate only a slightly higher data transfer rate than what my tests revealed. I do wonder why this drive isn’t offered with USB 3.2 Gen 2 technology rather than the USB 3.1.
Something else I found interesting was that the description of the hard drive talks about capturing footage and protecting it until you are able to get back to a studio. While I believe the hardware itself is capable of providing physical protection to the drive, I find the thought of transferring video files off to the hard drive with USB 3.1 speeds a little unlikely. We’ve tested out other SanDisk SSDs (SanDisk Extreme Pro Portable SSD) before and it featured USB 3.1 Gen 2 technology. That hard drive was able to transfer data with a rate of 525.4 MB/s. Given that the ArmorATD is a professional-level hard drive, I wish that more modern technology had been used for the data transfer. That said, the specs are in line with other rugged USB-C portable hard drives.
CONCLUSION
The ArmorATD portable hard drive is the complete package. It’s tough and it is available in larger capacities than some of its counterparts. The hard drive stays cool while in use. Even after all the tests I ran, the device stayed cool to the touch. I love the HD’s versatility and ease of use. The ArmorATD is portable and durable and it can be used for extra storage in any situation. It’s a very valuable storage device.
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