G-Technology Armor ATD 4TB Portable Drive Review

TweakTown's Rating: 87%

The Bottom Line

While the ArmorATD wont blow you away with its performance, the durability is second to none!

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When it comes to rugged portable drives, only a few brands come to mind. That being said G-Technology is looking to change this taking what it has learned from the ev ATC and ev RAW, and combined them to make a new series; Armor ATD

ArmorATD is setup to be the best all-terrain portable drive. Aimed at travelers, outdoor photographers, and filmmakers, this solution is setup with triple shock protection and an all-aluminum design allowing this drive to push through extremes. Further, the Armor ATD offers 1000LBs crush resistance comes in several capacities including 1,2 and 4TB model and offers 140MB/s read/write performance. Connectivity is setup with USB-C with an adapter included for legacy connections.

Compatibility includes both Windows 10 and macOS 10.12. MSRP of the G-Technology Armor ATD in the 4TB capacity comes in at 149.99 with a three-year warranty.

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Packaging offers an image of the drive with warranty and connectivity information below. Top right, we have the drive capacity and performance in MB/s.

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The back goes into more detail with a drive diagram at the top and finer details below.

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The contents of the box are the drive and USB-C cable.

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The Armor ATD is surrounded by a thick rubber skin, the blue enclosure under is full aluminum with subtle branding.

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On the end, the USB-C port has the ability to be sealed from both dust and water.

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Removing the rubber skin from the drive, you can get a better idea of the enclosure size. Keep in mind this is the 4TB model so it's a bit larger than the 1 or 2TB solutions.

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Above, I decided to test the durability of the drive-by putting it under the tire of a truck.

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Running the drive through some quick synthetic testing, we found the ArmorATD to reach 95MB/s read, and 128 MB/s write.

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Going back through testing using the C to A adapter included in the box, performance is relatively unchanged; 95 MB/s read and 123 MB/s write.

I've tested quite a few "durable" drives solutions over the years including top tier offerings from LaCie, ADATA and Silicon Power. That being said, the Armor ATD is our first look at a G-Technology solution built for the elements and to be honest I'm quite impressed. Build quality is solid with its aluminum enclosure and added rubber sleeve for additional shock protection while the aesthetic appeal is offered through a vibrant blue colorway.

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Durability was put to the test by driving my truck on top of the drive and sitting there for a few minutes. While we did hear some cracking initially, between the drive and stone driveway things settled out, and we were able to snap a few shots. Physically, the drive did experience some stress marks on the plastic end cap and dent or two on the aluminum enclosure, but it still spins up and moves data without issue.

As for performance, we weren't quite able to reach the prescribed 140 MB/s in testing. However, we did reach 128 MB/s at peak with 95-100 MB/s read in CrystalDiskMark and running real data to the drive-in day to day activities I'm seeing between 60-100 MB/s using USB-C.

Last, we have pricing, and it does appear G-Technology is being quite aggressive with its Armor ATD. Coming in at $149.99 for the 4TB model, comparable solutions include the Rugged USB-C from LaCie at $179.99 and ADATA HD830 at $159.99.

Tyler's Test System Specifications

• Motherboard: ASUS Prime Z370 (buy from Amazon)
• CPU: Intel Core i3 8350K (buy from Amazon)
• RAM: Corsair Vengeance 32GB 4x8GB DDR4 3200 (buy from Amazon)
• Cooler: Corsair Hydro H115i (buy from Amazon)
• Case: Corsair Air 540 (buy from Amazon)
• OS Storage: Samsung 960 EVO 250GB (buy from Amazon)
• Power Supply: Corsair RM850x (buy from Amazon)
• OS: Microsoft Windows 10 (buy from Amazon)
• Wi-Fi NIC: ASUS PCE-AC88 (buy from Amazon)
• 10Gbe NIC: ASUS XG-C100C (buy from Amazon)
• Thunderbolt 3: ASUS Thunderbolt EX3 (buy from Amazon)