IN WIN Ammo 2.5 inch SATA HDD Enclosure with RFID
The IN WIN Ammo enclosure comes in a pretty standard looking black cardboard box with the “AMMO” logo clearly written on it. Nothing too fancy to talk about here unlike which wasn’t as appealing as the packaging that came in the Commander 1500W PSU we reviewed recently. Nevertheless the box protects the internal components fine which is what we need end of the day.
Opening up the box you’re offered with a user manual, mini screwdriver, USB cable and RFID Tags. These are all which are needed to get the Ammo working. As we mentioned before the main selling point of the IN WIN AMMO enclosure is its RFID mechanism which is used to encrypt and decrypt the hard drive and they have included 2 types of tags to use depending on your personal choice.
The outer casing of the AMMO has been designed out of stainless steel, which is out of the norm considering most use aluminium. Steel may not have the same thermal benefits as aluminium, however it is much stronger and this is one of the other aspects IN WIN wanted to ensure from the AMMO design. Furthermore internal padding further enhances the anti shock and vibration capabilities of the IN WIN AMMO enclosure. Nevertheless I wouldn’t be taking much chances going about bouncing the AMMO around while a drive is installed.
In case you haven’t noticed the obvious the IN WIN AMMO enclosure is designed to look like an ammunition cartridge. Not only does it look like one, the outer painting has also been done to resemble the real thing.
Looking at the front of the enclosure you’re offered with a rubber plate bearing the “IN WIN” logo. The rubber plate is not just for aesthetics but also helps in removing a hard drive once it’s installed on the device.
Going to the rear of the Ammo enclosure it has another rubber section holding the power jack, blue power LED and USB port.
Installation
Installing the INWIN Ammo is very straight forward. Simply remove the screws in the rear of the unit and it’ll expose the drive tray. You can then push on the rubber piece available in the front of the unit to take off the inner tray of the INWIN Ammo.
The inner tray is made of mostly rubber giving the drive extra protection during transportation of the drive and also makes its operation more silent. The drive slides into a SATA connector already in place on the tray.
Once this is done, the drive is ready to go back into the enclosure. Connect back the screws to the main enclosure and you’re done.
Setting up RFID
As we mentioned before, the key selling point for the INWIN Ammo enclosure is its RFID security mechanism. So lets take a look at how this is done.
INWIN provides two RFID tags mainly as a backup in case you loose one. There are no replacement RFID tags you can get, so don’t loose them or you’ll end up with a drive you cannot access anymore.
To setup the RFID function on the drive, you first need to couple the drive with one of the tags given. I preferred to use the key tag version given as I’m not a big fan of having a dog tag around me all the time. Nevertheless it’s a personal preference and you can go with what ever you wish.
Once you connect the drive to the PC, simply swipe each of the tags in turn until the LED on the enclosure turns green and you hear two beeps. Once this coupling is done, you need to format the whole drive. I assume this is done to ensure the total drive is encrypted from the start. Make note that formatting your drive will erase any data you may have on the drive. After this process is done you’re ready to use the drive and RFID has now been setup.
Now whenever the enclosure if plugged into the PC the INWIN Ammo enclosure displays a red LED and makes a single beep indicating the drive is encrypted. To use the drive you now need to swipe one of the RFID tags over the Ammo until the LED light turns green and you hear two beeps from it. You can now access the drive as any other conventional drive. Once you’re done swipe the RFID tag over the Ammo once more and the drive is re-encrypted; yes it’s that easy.
This solution is ideal for anyone who wants to protect sensitive information while carrying them on a portable drive. We’re not sure yet how strong the encryption really is, nevertheless it is an extra barrier in place to protect data from preying eyes.
