G-Technology’s G-Drive ev ATC is its latest hard drive, offering Thunderbolt connectivity in an ultra-protective package. Launched at CES this year, the G-Drive ev ATC (ATC stands for All-Terrain Case) is shock/dust resistant, waterproof and pressure resistant, plus it offers 1TB of storage and Thunderbolt speeds.
Designed for users who need storage space that can be used in the field in suboptimal conditions, the bus-powered G-Drive EV ATC will keep data safe in all types of environments. The ev ATC (which houses an ev RaW 7200 RPM hard drive inside) is also compatible with the company’s Evolution series, which includes the G-Drive ev and G-Drive ev SSD, so hard drives can be swapped in and out of rugged enclosures.
What’s in the box?
The G-Drive ev ATC includes an internal 1TB G-Drive ev RaW, hard outer casing and a USB to Micro-B cable for using the hard drive with your Mac when it’s not inserted into the enclosure with a Thunderbolt cable. It comes with a short instruction manual that walks you through removing the internal drive from the outer casing and swapping it out for other G-Technology products if desired.
Design and features
The G-Drive ev ATC has two main parts: the hard plastic and rubber all-terrain case and the 1TB hard drive inside. The outer shell is made from black plastic with blue rubber accents on the corners and top and bottom to provide cushioning should it be accidentally dropped. It feels like a solid, quality product that’s going to stand up to abuse.
It’s branded with the company’s signature “G” logo and has an LED on top to let you know when it’s plugged in and active. A built-in Thunderbolt cable is tucked around the perimeter of the drive and covered with a blue rubber cap to keep out dust and water. Here’s a minor downside to the hard drive — the rubber cap is flimsy and feels like it could tear with rough handling, and when doing a water test, some water leaked out (it’s still usable after the water dries).
On the side of the EV ATC, there is a buckle that can be opened to release the top of the enclosure to access the EV RaW hard drive inside, which plugs into the outer casing using its SATA interface. The top of the opening is surrounded by the same rubber as the outside of the case, preventing water and dust from getting into the EV RaW inside when the case is closed.
The internal hard drive slides right out of the outer enclosure and the case can be used with other G-Technology products. If you have a G-Dock, for example, you can take out a drive, toss it into the Eve ATC case, and plug it back into the dock to offload photos or videos on the go. Similarly, if you have a G-Drive ev SSD, you can take out the ev RaW and stick the SSD in the ev ATC for some extra protection when traveling. You can also take the ev RaW inside the ev ATC and plug it into the G-Dock via its SATA interface.
When plugged into the ev ATC case, the included ev RaW hard drive (or other EV series hard drives) works over Thunderbolt, but when removed from the casing, you must use a USB 3.0 cable to connect the EV RaW to a computer since the EV ATC- There is no USB interface, so you always have to open the case and remove the EV Raw to connect to the USB port on the Mac.
Size-wise, the G-Drive Eve ATC is slightly heavier because of the protective outer casing. It’s going to fit fine in a backpack or suitcase, but it’s larger than similar products from LaCie. It measures 6.46 by 4.25 by 1.20 inches and weighs 0.82 pounds. The internal G-Drive ev RaW is slim and can fit in a pocket or purse, measuring 5.14 by 3.29 by 0.65 inches. It’s actually the same as other removable drives in the company’s G-Doc Eve series, but it’s made of black plastic instead of aluminum for better durability and 35 percent lighter weight.
The G-Drive ev ATC is marketed as an “all-terrain” hard drive that can withstand several environmental hazards. It is shock resistant and will withstand a 6 and a half foot drop, is pressure resistant, protected from dust due to its enclosure and is water resistant while inside the casing. The drive is light enough that it can float in water, so if it somehow falls into a shallow pool of water, it won’t sink to the bottom and become salvageable.
According to G-Technology, it can survive in water up to a depth of one foot for 30 seconds, so you shouldn’t drop it in a lake, but it will do just fine in the rain or water spray. Beach We stuck it in the shower for a few minutes and no water leaked inside the case, but water got into the Thunderbolt cables (as mentioned earlier, the hard drive was functional after drying). We also tested drop capacity and did not damage the internal drive or casing after repeated drops from six feet.
Software and performance
Many hard drives on the market come with drive management software packages pre-installed, but ev RaW does not. It comes automatically formatted for use with a Mac, so potential buyers who want to use the drive with Windows will need to reformat it out of the box.
According to G-Technology, the 7200 RPM ev RaW hard drive inside the EV ATC will see read/write speeds of up to 136MB/s, and performance was around that level in our tests using the Black Magic Disk Speed Test. We saw average write speeds of around 122MB/s and average read speeds of 132MB/s when the EV ATC was connected via Thunderbolt.
Over USB 3.0, average speeds were slightly slower at 120MB/s write and 130MB/s read. Overall, for a magnetic drive, data transfer speeds were solid and consistent with what G-Technology advertises.
Who is it for?
The average person doesn’t need a hard drive that can withstand rain, mud, dirt, significant drops and other environmental hazards, so the G-Drive ev ATC is a special product. It is aimed at photographers, videographers and other professionals who do a lot of field work and often need to store or access data in areas that would damage standard hard drives.
The G-Drive ev ATC can survive a lot of abuse, including dust, drops, liquid spills, puddles, sand and more, so it’s worth considering if you’re the type of person who needs to work in these conditions. It’s expensive compared to other 1TB hard drives on the market, but it offers a level of protection that many competing products don’t. It’s worth noting that G-Technology’s parent company HGST (a subsidiary of Western Digital) has some of the lowest hard drive failure rates, and G-Technology products are often praised for their reliability.
If you already use G-Technology’s ev product line in your home or office, the G-Drive ev ATC is a natural addition because it works with the existing G-Dock ev and offers interchangeable components. The internal EV RaW can be removed and used with the G-Dock, and works with the G-Drive ev and G-Drive ev SSD ev ATC enclosures.
It’s only worth buying the EV ATC with Thunderbolt if you need to take advantage of the Thunderbolt port — there’s a cheaper USB 3.0 version that will be available soon, and it’s a better buy for primary use with a USB connection.
Benefits:
- Versatile, works with all Evolution Series G-Drive products
- Material resistant
- floating in water
- USB/Thunderbolt/SATA
- Good performance
Disadvantages:
- heavy / heavy
- expensive
- Thin Thunderbolt cable caps
- USB 3.0 access requires removing the internal drive from the casing
How to buy
The G-Drive ev ATC with Thunderbolt can be purchased from the G-Technology website for $229.95. It is also available from Amazon at the same price point.
