ASUS has a tradition of designing devices with great RGB lighting systems. We have seen motherboards, CPU coolers, PC cases, keyboards, mice, and whatnot with RGB. However, we have never seen an external hard drive with RGB on it. Until this review! 🙂 The device is called ASUS FX HDD, and it is a hard drive destined for backups, which has AURA-compatible RGB LEDs on it. Featuring lighting inspired by the Mayan culture, the ASUS FX HDD has a unique look. If you want to know more about it, read this review:

ASUS FX HDD: Who is it good for?

The ASUS FX HDD is an excellent choice for:

• Fans of RGB lighting who want it on all their devices
• Fans of the Republic of Gamers brand
• Those who want a backup drive that stands out from the crowd

Pros and cons

The ASUS FX HDD has several good things going for it:

• It is lightweight and easy to carry
• It uses a fast USB 3.1 Gen1 port to connect to other devices
• The sequential read and write speeds are excellent
• It has RGB lighting and it is AURA-compatible
• You can buy it with different amounts of storage space: 1TB and 2TB

The only downside is that the price is a bit higher than that of similar external hard drives that do not have RGB lighting.

Verdict

The ASUS FX HDD is a good looking external hard-disk that delivers excellent sequential writing and reading speeds. That makes it a great performer if you want a portable drive to keep backups on. The feature that distinguishes it from the rest of the market is its AURA RGB lighting, which is probably a first in the world of portable drives. If you are the happy owner of other ASUS AURA-compatible devices, you might be delighted to see this drive. Finally, if the price is not an issue, and you are a fan of the Republic of Gamers lineup, you won't regret buying the ASUS FX HDD.

Unboxing the ASUS FX HDD

The ASUS FX hard-disk drive arrives in a small rectangular box. The front features an image of the hard drive on a background of light lines with a futuristic design inspired by the Maya civilization. On the top-right corner, you find the exact model and storage size of the external drive. Also, you get to see that the drive supports AURA Sync, which lets you synchronize the colors and light effects of the drive with your other AURA-compatible devices that you own.

On the back and the sides of the box, ASUS printed some more information about the drive and its specs and features. Opening the box reveals its contents: the ASUS FX hard-disk drive, a USB 3.1 Gen1 cable, the quick start guide, and the warranty card.

We like the packaging and the unboxing experience offered by the ASUS FX HDD.

Design and specifications

The feature that distinguishes the ASUS FX HDD from the other portable hard drives on the market is the fact that it has RGB lights on it. You did not expect to see that on a portable drive, did you? 🙂

The RGB lighting system has a futuristic pattern that seems to have been inspired by the Mayan culture. We have seen these patterns of thin lines and geometrical shapes with sharp angles on most ASUS AURA-compatible devices, especially those from the Republic of Gamers lineup. The FX HDD is AURA-compatible, which means that you can sync its lighting with your other components and peripherals. The case of the hard drive is made of plastic materials, but the surfaces have a brushed finish that not only prevents smudges, but also helps you get a better grip on the drive.

The ASUS FX HDD is sold in two variants: with 1TB of storage (EHD-A1T) or with 2TB (EHD-A2T) of space. The model we tested was the one with 1TB of storage space on it.

The ASUS FX HDD uses a USB 3.1 Gen1 connection that allows for high-speed data transmission, at a speed of 5 Gbps that is ten times faster than USB 2.0. Check the benchmarks section of this review to see how fast the drive is. According to ASUS, the FX hard drive also benefits from an ASMedia 1153E controller which provides the drive with more stable data transmission at maximized transfer speeds.

Together with the hardware, ASUS also bundled software for a full backup solution, including PC and mobile data, social media, and cloud storage. The backup software also offers secure 256-bit AES encryption and data compression. Read the last section of this review to see more details. If you want to see all the official specifications and features of this portable hard drive, visit its webpage: ASUS FX HDD.

The ASUS FX HDD looks beautiful, and the RGB lighting on it makes it feel like a device from a high-tech future. The specs are also good and in line with what you would expect from a portable hard drive.

Performance in benchmarks

While the ASUS FX HDD seemed fast when we transferred files to and from it, we wanted to get a clearer perspective regarding its transfer speeds. For that, we tested the ASUS FX drive, using CrystalDiskMark. As you can see in the screenshot below, the drive delivers good sequential read and write speeds, both in the range of 120 to 130 MB/s. Although the random read and write speeds are on the lower side, they are not the ones that interest us for this drive. The ASUS FX HDD is a portable hard-disk destined for backups, and, for that, the sequential speeds are the most important.

We also transferred a 3.81 GB file to the ASUS FX drive, using File Explorer in Windows 10. The writing speed was around 134 MB/s. It is a good data writing speed.

Finally, we repeated the copying, but this time we copied the 3.81 GB file from the ASUS FX hard drive to our Windows 10 PC, which uses a solid state drive. Windows 10 copied the file at a speed of 1.5 GB/s, which is excellent.

The ASUS FX HDD offers solid performance. The speeds it offers when writing or reading data sequentially are excellent for a hard drive that is designed to back up data.

Bundled software

The ASUS FX hard drive bundles a "complete and easy-to-use backup solution" called NTI Backup Now EZ. It includes automatic scheduling of PC data backup, and it can also back up your data from social media, cloud storage, or your smartphone.

The software also offers optional 256-bit AES encryption. If you want to keep your files private and secure with a personalized password, you can use this feature.

The backup software bundled by ASUS on the FX HDD is good at its job, and most people are going to appreciate it. Others might not, but they can skip using it, and use the drive as is, or with any other backup software that they like.

Do you like the ASUS FX HDD?

You now know how we feel about the ASUS FX HDD, and you know that we like it. What is your opinion about this drive? Would you buy it? If you already have it, what is your experience with it? Comment below and share your perspective.