- USB 3.0 cable comes included and attaches neatly to the drive
- Powered via the USB 3.0 port which means no extra cables
- Small form factor means small footprint
- Silicone port seal flap is flimsy and could easily become opened or not closed properly
- Due to the ruggedness and design, you cannot remove the internal hard drive
Final Thoughts
In all honesty, I don’t know where one might make use of the ruggedness of the ADATA HD710A external hard drive. Chances are that if it is not in use, it will most likely be in a bag which means that it won’t be exposed to dust or dunked into water. I could see it being useful if you were carrying it in a bag, crossing over from a dock to a boat and you happen to drop your bag into the water. The ruggedness might be helpful in that case, but you would probably lose your laptop if it was in the same bag.
On the other hand, the shock rating (for drops) would be useful for many people. Things do fall from time to time and with things like mechanical hard drives, a shock can ruin a platter and corrupt data. With the material the ADATA HD710A is built from, it will lessen the shock that the internal hard drive receives. I’ve dropped this particular unit a few times (on purpose) and it has no issues with the data that is stored on it.
After taking the ADATA HD710A to the beach for some fun in the water, I brought it back home and plugged it in. It’s working as if it didn’t have a salt water bath. The data I transferred over is not corrupt and there doesn’t seem to be any evidence around the USB port of any water ingress. That’s great news!
If you are looking for a life-proof 1 or 2 terabyte external hard drive for your Mac, I would recommend looking at the this ADATA offering. Its small form factor allows it to easily fit into a pocket or not take up as much space as other external hard drives of this storage capacity. The USB 3.0 speeds will ensure you can transfer large files in a timely fashion, and with being backwards compatible with USB 2.0, you can access your data from other machines if needed too.
