ADATA DashDrive HD650 External HDD Review

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Over the past year, we have had the opportunity to look over and review quite a few external hard drives, and even solid state drive from ADATA. ADATA is one of only a few companies that seems to have a constant stream of new products entering the market.

Today, we will be looking over the latest external HDD to come from ADATA: the DashDrive Durable HD650. The HD650 comes in both 500GB, and 1TB capacities, with each being powered via USB 3.0. Color options include black and red models, with each featuring an anti-shock casing, and access to ADATA software solutions, including HDDtoGo and OStoGo. At the time of writing, pricing of the ADATA DashDrive HD650 is listed at $59.99 for the 500GB model, and $79.99 for 1TB. Both drives carry a three-year warranty.

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The scope of delivery for the ADATA HD650 includes a "Getting Started" guide, a USB 3.0 cable, and the drive itself.

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The enclosure seen above features an underlying plastic enclosure, with a durable silicon anti-shock material shaped around the edges.

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Internally, the HD650 utilizes a Toshiba 500GB HDD. For added protection, the drive is cradled by rubber on each side.

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The controller used in the HD650 is the VLI VL701.

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Looking over our first chart for read performance, we find the HD650 peaking at 116 MB/s.

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Write performance of the HD650 came in at 112 MB/s, which is comparable to the HC630 we reviewed a few months back.

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A new metric we will be using from here on out, is price to performance for all external drives. This metric works by taking the drives average performance for both sequential read and write, and dividing it by the price per GB of the drive. Above, you can see the HD650 leads the chart in this category, with the HC630 falling in right behind it.

While still being rather stylish, the HD650 from ADATA offers three layers of protection for your data on the go. On the exterior, we have silicon rubber protecting an underlying layer of scratch resistant acrylic, and a third layer of silicon wrapped around the drive, as we saw in the review images.

Performance of the drive was chart leading for all external HDDs we have tested. Furthermore, the pricing of the drive netted it the top spot in our price to performance charts as well. All of this, plus the drive's three-year warranty, makes it one of the best on the market at this time. This is one drive you should definitely look at if you're in the market for external storage.

At the time of writing, pricing of the 500GB ADATA HD650 is set at $59.99, with an included three-year warranty.

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