External storage is expensive and can’t always boot games directly. ..
The Silicon Power Armor A26 Game Drive is a lower-cost external hard drive marketed towards gamers that is designed to withstand the abuse of being thrown into a backpack and carried from place to place. The company sent one to us at Online Tech Tips to review.
A No-Nonsense Look and Feel
The Silicon Power Armor A26 Game Drive is a great choice for anyone looking for a basic gaming drive. It’s lightweight and easy to carry around, and it comes in two colors- blue and black-green. The blue version is plain, but the black-green color gives it an interesting look. The drive is just over 12 ounces, making it easy to carry around.
The cable-strap combination makes it easy to store different cables on top of the drive itself. The plain design gives it a tough look, and the drive is shockproof. ..
The SSD has an IPX4 rating, meaning it can survive being splashed with liquids and submersion.
The Silicon Power Game Drive is designed to be easily moved from place to place. Our testing saw it move between various machines without difficulty. If something happens to your drive, we offer a 3-year warranty.
Storage Capacity
The Silicon Power Armor A26 Game Drive is a new storage option that offers a large capacity for games and other digital media. It retails for $50 and can be upgraded to a 2TB or 4TB model. The next step up is the Silicon Power Armor A26 Game Drive 4TB, which retails for $103. Finally, there is the Silicon Power Armor A26 Game Drive 5TB, which can be purchased for $138.
The 4.6TB hard drive was plugged in and formatted. It left 4.6TB available for actual usage. Files were moved on and off the drive with no difficulty, although its PassMark score was on the low end of the scale. It received a mediocre result and a rating of only 47% better than competitors. ..
Real-World Performance
The Silicon Power Game Drive is marketed as a gaming drive first and foremost. In fact, it is often pitched as a PlayStation 4 drive, although its compatibility list includes Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS4, PC, and Mac. ..
We were unable to connect the PlayStation 4 to our USB port. We tested a separate USB port and received the same result. Even restarting the PlayStation 4 and updating its software (which Silicon Power states must be version 4.5 or higher) had no improvement.
After testing the drive on other platforms, one final attempt resulted in the PlayStation 4 recognizing the drive and allowing it to be formatted. After the setup period, the Game Drive worked without issue, although file transfer rates on the PlayStation 4 felt notably slow.
We were able to run games directly from the Game Drive on the console.
The Silicon Power Game Drive on the Xbox One worked flawlessly and ran even fast-paced games like Burnout Paradise without stuttering. Even large files transferred quickly.
We reformatted the drive to work with a PC and then removed it from the PC. The Macbook recognized the drive instantly and allowed for movement of files between the PC and the Macbook.
The drive works well despite its rocky start. For gamers on a budget, it’s a good investment.
The Silicon Power Armor A26 Game Drive is designed to work with USB 3.2 ports, but is backwards compatible with USB 3.1, USB 3.0, and USB 2.0 ports. You’ll get the best results if you use a USB 3.2 port. ..
If you’re looking for a way to expand your storage capacity and download more games, this is a decent drive to look into. It has a ton of storage capacity at a relatively low price. Of course, don’t purchase it if you plan on using it to bump the storage capacity of next-gen consoles - it likely isn’t fast enough for that. ..
