We know, it's not always that we get to review external hard drives and honestly, there is just too many of them out in the market with are pretty much the same. So when Adata asks us if we'd like to look at the HD720, we thought that it's gonna be another run-of-the-mill external drive. Luckily we Googled it before we say 'no'.
Big thanks to Adata for shipping the HD720, IP68 rated, Dustproof and waterproof, Shockproof 2.5" External Hard Disk Drive. Yup, you read it right, dustproof and waterproof ;) we'll call it HD720 as the full name is kinda long.... Retailing at about RM260 to RM300, depending on where you get it from, for the 1TB version it's priced competitively in the Malaysian market.
Packaging
The HD720's packaging is rather simple, a white box with a window and features highlighted right in front.
Multilingual specification, system requirements and content summary at the back of the box along with some explanations of the highlighted features and other information.
Both sides of the box are identical, only here that you'll see that Adata has the HD720 on 3 years warranty.
Taking out the contents, you get the multilingual quick start guide and the HD720 itself. The USB3.0 cable is of course included; mounted at the side with 2 rubbery clips that holds it pretty well. Saves one the trouble of having to look for it.
The Product
The HD720 is encased in a rubbery skin with the Adata branding right in front. As you can see, this is the black version, the HD720 is also available in blue and yellow.
The flap opens up to reveal the USB3.0 port and where the LED indicator would be. The flap snaps on quite tightly to the port which would prevent dust and water from reaching it. I do hope it works though.
At the back, we find the Ingress Protection (IP) rating along with the words Shockproof and Waterproof. According to the specifications, the HD720 is able to withstand a drop from 1.8 meters and could remain submerged underwater up to 2 Meters for a period of 120 minutes quite resilient from a mechanical drive.
The USB3.0 cable is held by rubber 'clips' on the sides, gets the job done well enough. At this point, the rubber surface already picked up some dust particles so expect it to be sticking to more if this ever fell to the ground...... though I think you could always rinse it all off with water at the end of the day.
The rubber 'skin' is removable and here is what it'll look like... not sure why one would do that though as you would need it for the dust and water protection IP68 thingy I was talking about earlier.
No gold plated connectors here, not that I'm expecting any.
Testing
Of course we'll need to first see how fast this could help us at all right? having a resilient portable HDD means nothing if the transfer rate is too slow to be useful on the field.
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| USB2.0 Connection |
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| USB3.0 Connection |
I ran Crystal Disk Mark for both USB2.0 and USB3.0 and as you can see, it's definitely not a match for the Western Digital Caviar Black 6.0TB that we reviewed earlier but I'm glad to report that the speed is decently fast on the USB3.0 connection.
Time for some painful tests!! I actually dropped it from the top of my head (1.75 meters) onto the paved road but I have no idea how to do that and have the picture taken by myself... but here is a photo of it being rinsed. Yes it still works do note that this is a mechanical drive so don't ask me to drop it again even though it is supposedly a shockproof drive.
Conclusion
The Adata HD720 brings back what was mostly missing on the market, shockproof external HDD that could actually take a beating. For most of us, this will be stuffed inside a bag until it is needed but you can rest at ease with the IP68 rating knowing that it will survive all the jiggle and rattle inside. Just make sure that the the flap is closed when you're washing the dust off.
This deserves a Tech Critter Gold and Recommended Badge!!
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