Introduction
There are a lot of hard drive enclosures out there. No, really! Go punch “USB HDD enclosure” into Google or NewEgg some time, you’ll be buried in them. This makes it rather hard for any one enclosure to have much success. Generally, the only way to stand out is to make it a funny shape, or offer some unusual feature. IN-WIN have decided to do both with the AMMO 2.5″ HDD enclosure, shaping it like the magazine of an AR-15 and offering hardware-based encryption with RFID token-based access. Is this combination enough to make it worth your while? Let’s find out.
Features and Specifications
Unique Ammunition Design
Thinking out of the box, In Win is proud to present an innovative design for conventional external HDD enclosures. The AMMO, a 2.5-inch external HDD enclosure with an ammunition cartridge design, features state-of-the-art shock and vibration absorbing padding, secured stainless metal case, excellent thermal solution, durability and an easy-to-grab texture!
Military-like Anti-vibration
Ammo is a most convenient HDD enclosure for those who are always on the go. With excellent secure portability and a durable metallic case, the AMMO is synonymous to military-like anti-shock and anti-vibration attributes providing the user a complete peace of mind!
RFID Technology
Ammo contains RFID technology with waterproof type design bringing security up to the highest level and becoming the ultimate companion and the perfect bodyguard for your precious data!
Character
The unique ammunition design with RFID security and stainless metal combined with military-like collision proof independence exemplifies the true character style of the AMMO!
You have to give these Chinese ad-copywriters credit, they try really hard to produce natural-sounding English. Unfortunately whoever wrote up this list got a bit too excited towards the end, and the coherence of the message suffered for it. Still, the basic gist of it comes through. The AMMO differentiates itself by offering:
- A distinctive shape
- Hardware-based encryption with an RFID tag for driver-less access control
- Rubber innards for some shock damping
- A steel exterior that will hopefully provide crush protection
Now let’s have a look at the “spec sheet”, such as it is:
| Data Transfer: | USB2.0 up to 480mbps (60MB/s) |
| Certificate: | 1. CE
2. FCC 3. RoHS |
| Data Security: | RFID Data Encryption |
| HDD Support: | 2.5” SATA Hard Disk Drive |
| Dimension(HxWxD): | 145 x 85 x 20mm |
| Warranty: | 3 Years Limited (The PCB board and USB 2.0 Cable are covered under the 1 year warranty) |
| OS: | 1. Windows 2000/XP/Vista
2. Mac OS 9.0 and greater (FAT) |
| Interface: | USB High Speed (2.0) |
Mostly what you’d expect, though I think claiming transfer speeds of 60MB/sec is dishonest even with the weasel-phrase “up to” prepended. A couple of worrying bits here:
- “RFID Data Encryption”? That’s like saying “weasel cheese fuel-injection”, it’s nonsense. RFID isn’t anything near a cryptosystem, it’s a Radio-Frequency IDentification system. If I were to consider trusting this thing with important data, I’d want to know what the crypto chip is doing first.
- MacOS is supported, but only with a FAT filesystem? FAT32 is a nightmare for anything over 30GB, and the 4GB file size limit is a huge PITA. I smell trouble for anyone wishing to use this with a *nix system, whether that be MacOS X, BSD or Linux.
[…] Quote: There are a lot of hard drive enclosures out there. No, really! Go punch "USB HDD enclosure" into Google or NewEgg some time, you’ll be buried in them. This makes it rather hard for any one enclosure to have much success. Generally, the only way to stand out is to make it a funny shape, or offer some unusual feature. IN-WIN have decided to do both with the AMMO 2.5" HDD enclosure, shaping it like the magazine of an AR-15 and offering hardware-based encryption with RFID token-based access. Is this combination enough to make it worth your while? Let’s find out. LINK: http://www.techwarelabs.com/in-win-ammo-usb-hard-drive-enclosure/ […]
[…] IN-WIN AMMO USB HDD Enclosure | TechwareLabs […]
[…] techwarelabs checks out the IN-WIN AMMO USB Hard Drive Enclosure […]
[…] Quote: There are a lot of hard drive enclosures out there. No, really! Go punch "USB HDD enclosure" into Google or NewEgg some time, you’ll be buried in them. This makes it rather hard for any one enclosure to have much success. Generally, the only way to stand out is to make it a funny shape, or offer some unusual feature. IN-WIN have decided to do both with the AMMO 2.5" HDD enclosure, shaping it like the magazine of an AR-15 and offering hardware-based encryption with RFID token-based access. Is this combination enough to make it worth your while? Let’s find out. LINK: http://www.techwarelabs.com/in-win-ammo-usb-hard-drive-enclosure/ […]
[…] Quote: There are a lot of hard drive enclosures out there. No, really! Go punch "USB HDD enclosure" into Google or NewEgg some time, you’ll be buried in them. This makes it rather hard for any one enclosure to have much success. Generally, the only way to stand out is to make it a funny shape, or offer some unusual feature. IN-WIN have decided to do both with the AMMO 2.5" HDD enclosure, shaping it like the magazine of an AR-15 and offering hardware-based encryption with RFID token-based access. Is this combination enough to make it worth your while? Let’s find out. LINK: http://www.techwarelabs.com/in-win-ammo-usb-hard-drive-enclosure/ […]
[…] Quote: There are a lot of hard drive enclosures out there. No, really! Go punch "USB HDD enclosure" into Google or NewEgg some time, you’ll be buried in them. This makes it rather hard for any one enclosure to have much success. Generally, the only way to stand out is to make it a funny shape, or offer some unusual feature. IN-WIN have decided to do both with the AMMO 2.5" HDD enclosure, shaping it like the magazine of an AR-15 and offering hardware-based encryption with RFID token-based access. Is this combination enough to make it worth your while? Let’s find out. LINK: http://www.techwarelabs.com/in-win-ammo-usb-hard-drive-enclosure/ […]
[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by ChrisTWL, Cory Blomenkamp, Tom Gowing, mattandroTWL, willhalsteadTWL and others. willhalsteadTWL said: Review: IN-WIN AMMO USB Hard Drive Enclosure – http://www.techwarelabs.com/in-win-ammo-usb-hard-drive-enclosure/ […]