Especially durable. Asus TUF Gaming A1 SSD enclosure test

With its external SSD (M.2) enclosures, Asus relies on extra robustness, IP68 rating and strapping options. This is also more rare than with flash drives. The mounting of the SSD itself is along the lines of modern Asus motherboards. The subject of the analysis will first be the TUF Gaming A1, the cheaper of the pair of available enclosures. However, it too already supports USB 3.2 gen. 2 with Type-C connectivity.

Evaluation

The Asus TUF Gaming A1 is an SSD enclosure with the added value of increased drop, dust and water resistance. Although the degree of protection should also account for the device’s immersion in water, we are a little skeptical on this one. The level of sealing around the SSD feels very reliable even though the USB connector doesn’t have a cap. Similar to smartphones, there’s apparently an expectation that you’ll let the enclosure dry out after dropping it in water before connecting it to a device.

Diving into water while it’s running doesn’t even make sense in the more demanding conditions this external SSD enclosure is designed for. It may be of particular interest to filmmakers shooting footage in more adrenaline-filled environments. This case can withstand very hard impacts, it’s well prepared for that, and that’s one of the reasons you’ll pay extra for it over more delicate competing solutions. But the accessories here are only basic, and while there is the option to strap the case via the loop on top, you’ll have to source a carabiner or some sort of loop elsewhere, for example. But let’s climb down from the rocks to the ground, and get to a computer.

The maximum sequential read and write speeds with the tested SSD (Samusng 980 Pro) are around 1083 MB/s. With these, you practically hit the limits of the supported USB 3.2 gen. 2 interface, and you will encounter approximately these speeds even when transferring video or high-resolution photos. There is virtually no difference between short-term and long-term loads in terms of speed, and the cooling of the enclosure is at a good level.

The average surface temperature of the enclosure under maximum load of the SSD is around 35.4 °C. This is just a “for the sake of interest” figure, from which, of course, it is difficult to judge the cooling properties of the enclosure. A lower temperature on its surface may not necessarily mean a lower SSD controller temperature, and it may paradoxically be the other way around – a higher enclosure temperature may equal a lower SSD temperature. It may, it may not. In this case, however, all behavioral signs point to the fact that excessive temperatures will not happen easily. This is also confirmed by the stable performance even under prolonged load. The robust enclosure shell has thick walls, the surface articulation is relatively smaller, but the emissive area is relatively large.

Compared to the last tested Axagon EEM2-GTR enclosure, we saw 15% lower idle power consumption (4.25 W). The power consumption under load is already comparable, and the differences scale with the speed differences, which are negligible.

It’s perhaps still worth noting that besides the TUF Gaming A1 enclosure, Asus also has a complete external SSD (TUF Gaming AS1000) on offer. This is for those who are not interested in “putting together” their own configuration and will be satisfied with a ready-made solution. If the 10-gigabit connectivity of the TUF Gaming A1 enclosure isn’t enough for you, but you otherwise find its design satisfactory, you can wait a little longer for the “A2” model (TUF Gaming A2). That one hasn’t come out yet, but it’s in the works.

English translation and edit by Jozef Dudáš

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