Ultra Rugged External Hard Drive

Product Description

Remote locations and inclement weather no longer mean compromising on storage space or leaving your libraries at home. Introducing the G-Technology ArmorATD line of external hard disk drives. These rugged and all-terrain HDDs start at a terabyte of storage and offer swift USB 3.1 (up to 140MB/s) transfer rates, sealed port covers, and solid aluminum enclosures with impressive dust, water, crush, and shock resistance. Even better, all ArmorATD external drives come backed by 3-year warranties and offer free unlimited tech support. This means whether you're shooting footage in the rain or recording audio in the desert, with G-Technology ArmorATD external hard drives from GearNuts, you're never far from mission-critical data.

Features

• Triple-layer shock resistance for added durability
• Rain-and dust-resistant (IP54) enclosure with a 1000lb crush rating
• With capacities up to 5TB of storage for your photos and footage
• USB-C ready; USB-3.0 and Thunderbolt 3 compatible
• Ready to go with mac and Windows

Top Reviews

Big disappointment - Connectivity Issue when connect to MacBook Pro late 2017
by Amazon Customer (1 out of 5 stars)
September 14, 2019

The drive looks steady with the protective rubber casing. Upon 5-6 days after receiving the drive, I plugged it in to backup my files from MacBook. It works fine with reasonably fast writing speed. 2-days later, I plugged it in, to attempt retrieving a folder. It could not be read, and wasn't showing up in the Finder. I did a Disk Utility Repair, but Disk Utility indicated it couldn't Repair. I shut down my MacBook, plugged out and re-plugged in the drive, and faced the same issue. It finally showed up on my Finder WIndow on the 3rd attempt. I thought it must be a one-off issue. A week plus later, when I was trying to retrieve a document from the drive, it again could not be read! I have to do a Disk Utility, shut down my MacBook, plugged it out and re-plugged it in, and managed to get it re-connected after the 4th attempts. Big disappointment! I am definitely returning it, before the return deadline!
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is there larger tb than 4tb in this style
by Johnny (3 out of 5 stars)
August 22, 2019

it is a bit hard to plug in but i do like bumper guard around it i have dropped several hard drives. this one should last awhile
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Not to fast and it's shockprof.
by Jonathan M (5 out of 5 stars)
September 2, 2019

I don't know how long this drive will last, but I like how the rubber protection sticks to anything and it will not slip from the table or my computer.
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Works well on iPad & Mac , decent value for the size.
by Just Chris (5 out of 5 stars)
August 3, 2019

I was in need of a larger drive to backup/archive all the media I capture when I travel.

My workflow is a Sandisk SSD that I use for initial copies from SD/CF and some editing.

The 4tb ArmorATD comes in for the daily/nightly backup from the SSD, so that I always have everything in (2) places.

Also, I have had this drive less than a week, but have used it a fair bit and will update if anything changes.

First impressions- very pleased to report it works with my 2018 MacBook Pro (usb-c) **and iPad** (2018 Pro 11" usb-c) nicely. I am running beta versions of Apple software and an unencrypted drive (was ExFat, now APFS). Hoping the iPad supports encryption soon...

Speed - Copy times are as advertised. No, they didn't hide an NVME in there. Gets pretty close to 130-135 steady for copying many files between drives. I have probably pulled/pushed a couple TB's so far and does not seem to get hot and slow down nor did anything unexpected happen.

Physical Overview - Feels solid, nice blue anodized aluminum shell with the G logo wrapped in a form-fitting charcoal colored protective rubber bumper. There is a white power/activity LED that sits in the spot next to the USB-C plug on one end. The bumper is flexible yet stays on well. It is grippy enough to not slide around on surfaces, but still come in and out of pockets in my bag without dragging stuff with it. The USB-C plug is well hidden behind a rubber flap/door in the bumper, when not in use. Seems sufficient for putting in my bag with no case and should survive the occasional drop. I haven't thrown it out of a moving car or dropped it off a building to test it but if you want to buy me one I'd be glad to.

Physical Size - Since mine is the 4tb its significantly thicker than the 2tb units and is also the largest portable drive I have. Being critical it seems a little more squared off than the LaCie units and a hair smaller in practical use - but thicker feeling in the hand.

Value - As of this writing, this drive is 139$. Given the cost of other portable rugged usb-c spinning drives, this is competitive. If you are reading this hoping I am going to extoll the virtues of spinning media vs SSD, or do some dollar per TB compare I am not. I see people arguing about the cost of SSD vs Spindle in these reviews and roll my eyes. Spinning is cheap and abundant, SSD is about 3X the price and 4x the speed. End of story. I bought this one for backing up my SSD's onto and you can too, if you want.

I hope this review has been helpful. If not, click the comment/question button and let me know how it can be.

Thanks for reading,
-Chris
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Great Product
by Luis Rivas (5 out of 5 stars)
September 5, 2019

I am using this HD for video editing with an Imac 27" via thunderbolt 3 and is amazing. No complains, fast transfer, no noise, no warm up. Really good investment.
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Sexy External Hard-Drive!
by Marshawn (5 out of 5 stars)
September 8, 2019

Excellent external hard-drive in every way possible from design, durability, speed, and affordability!
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So far so good.
by Patrick Walls (4 out of 5 stars)
September 6, 2019

I placed 500 gig on it at one time and it did just fine. Although it did get pretty warm to the touch, but not hot. I can see where transferring a lot of data all the time could eventually cause a problem for some like they report. I don't know if it's the heat or not but the longer I have I will do an update. Even with the USB adapter on the lightening cable it was fast, a lot faster then my spin drive.
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Ready to use out of the box
by Rock Edge (5 out of 5 stars)
July 25, 2019

The 1TB ArmorATD Rugged was larger than I expected, simply because I have another G-Technology 1TB drive that's easily half the size.

In the package we have the drive, 18 inch USB-C cable, a USB-C to USB 3 adapter and the warranty and support papers.

The drive itself has shock absorbing rubber wrap around the edges that can be removed. It has a USB-C port cover assuming to help with the water resistant aspect. It has a drive light when properly plugged that will show you know you are ready to go and it flashes when accessing or moving files around.

And it was easy... plugged it right up and was accessible on a Windows PC. "Some" G-Technology drives may have to be formatted this one does not. You even get a nice little ArmorATD ico file to proudly display your new drive under My Computer.

When doing some data transfer I at first thought 'oh this is slow at the cost of 1000 pounds of pressure protection' but I was comparing file transfers to my other G drive. And that's not fair. (That other drive double the price too!)

They clearly state on the box it supports up to 140 MB/s. So once I level set my expectations, working with the ArmorATD drive and a 4GB sample file, I found it averaging about 130 MB/s, sometimes spiking faster when I was copying FROM the disk:
4GB file copying to the ArmorATD: 30 seconds, windows meter showing 120-130 MB/s

Same file copy from the ArmorATD: 22 seconds, 130-155 MB/s spikes.

Copying a 4GB file to my cell phone took about 25 seconds!

I then daisy chained this USB-C drive through a couple of docking stations I've been testing (and one I have for work). The hard drive performed almost exactly the same rates, and on average was very consistent in performance no matter the dock. Huge plus as more and more USB-C accessible docks, monitors and phones are becoming available.

Next I tested the USB 3 adapter and received just about the same speed results.

The drive is IP54, defined on the interwebs as (second number relates to water resistance):
"Water splashing against the enclosure from any direction shall have no harmful effect."

Overall a great value for the speed and protection this unit provides, along with a 3 year limited warranty.
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Incredibly Unreliable and Slow
by T. Kessler (1 out of 5 stars)
September 17, 2019

This is the most frustrating experience that I have ever had with an external drive. I was looking for a USB-C drive for my 2018 MacBook Pro so it would be fast and not need a dongle.

The drive looks quite solid. No question about it. I formatted the 4 TB version into two 2TB partitions with an APFS format. I then did a full Super-Duper backup into one of the volumes. The backup was slow, but understandable for all the data involved in this first backup.

Then things went to hell. Sometimes, most times, the drive would not even be recognized. Sometimes it would but it was incredibly slow. Spinning beachball all the time. It could take minutes to even appear in the Finder. Ditto for Disk Utility. Absolutely glacial speed.

I am now returning this one and getting a second one in the hope that this problem is specific to this drive. I will post the results when I get them.
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Durable drive
by Trick Entertainment (5 out of 5 stars)
October 1, 2019

Love this, works great for traveling.
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Armor makes it pretty large
by Wizard Island (4 out of 5 stars)
October 24, 2019

Solid drive. But beware it's larger than usual to accommodate the "armor." I'd only recommend it if you need the extra protection, otherwise get something smaller.

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