STM901603BAA1E1-RK, Tight little package

Overall Rating44444

Tight little package

I openned up the box and immediately dodged all the manuals like I always do. I’ve owned a Seagate FreeAgent 120 and Iomega iGo so I figure this would be cake. Plugged it into my XP system and it detected it right away, the blue lights came on but the fun paused there. I checked drive properties and only 38mb showed up. I figured I needed to look for a manual. Apparently the autorun launcher didn’t pop up for me (it did popup on my XP Dell Laptop). The simple folded quick setup guide walked me through how to setup the drive and then I was in business after about 2 minutes.
So, a little work for a lot more security. I’ve always dreaded losing drives with private information like past turbo tax records and paystub scans. The extra encryption step for this drive is very little overhead work for a lot of peace of mind if I lost this thing.
It’s smaller than my Seagate FreeAgent and the finish looks a bit more tightly and densely rugged. It’s also a bit heavier but feels less “plastic-y”.
The USB 2.0 cable included doesn’t have the additional power usb line like my other two portables have, but I hadn’t found a computer that can’t power this drive by a single line.
It comes with a few manuals and a CD which I haven’t looked at yet and don’t plan to. It also comes with a nice carry pouch that has a slot for the drive and an additional little pocket for the cable so it doesn’t scratch the drive during transport.
Overall the drive looks very classy, sturdy and tight.

Update (2/6/2012): This item is currently on sale here for the lowest price I’ve seen.

The featured review for this product, Maxtor BlackArmor 160 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive STM901603BAA1E1-RK Electronics, was written by Eric K. Lee.

The average rating for this item is 4 out of 5 stars, according to 3 reviews.

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Reviews (3)

K. Chang

March 5th, 2010 at 10:35 am    


Overall Rating44444

leave other “clunks” at home
just so i clarify, the Black Armor is not one of those portable drives you carry around with a clunky power supply/cord. on top of its security features, which was really easy to set up, the Black Armor has a decent design in my opinion. in times when you hear about data thefts and compromises, the Black Armor definitely stepped up to do the job in securing all your data in case it gets lost or stolen. the transfer rate isn’t too bad either, although it ain’t the faster ones compared to competition; personally i can trade a little speed for protection.

one thing about this drive however if you are ‘lazy’ like me sometimes, is that you have to type in password every time you connect the drive, even if it’s on the same system. perhaps this process can be improved later by ways of assigning digital signatures to auto authenticate between the system and the Black Armor. oh yea, it’s a bit pricier than the competition. aside from the above, it’s a great little drive!


Eric K. Lee

March 21st, 2010 at 11:34 pm    


Overall Rating44444

Tight little package
Rated 4 stars.


D. Sim

April 14th, 2010 at 10:56 pm    


Overall Rating44444

Concerned about security? Get this drive
This disc is perfect for those concerned about security over functionality. All security software and utility back-up are pre-loaded on the hard drive, so all you have to do is plug it in and answer a few questions. The player itself is stylish and very sturdy, and comes with a pouch that stores the hard drive and USB cable. It really is a superb disc. Now for some drawbacks. Each time you disconnect the hard drive, you must unlock the drive before it can be used. In addition, the transfer speed seems a little bit slower than my other laptop hard drive, but not that much slower, but worth noting. The price of this player is a little steep compared to the storage space has received. You get better value going with the 320GB though. Overall, this album gets 4 stars because it provides great security in a superb drive, but you pay a premium for it.


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