When it comes to moving data
around, while a USB flash drive is hard to beat for convenience, when
it comes to capacity, a hard drive is what gets the job done. A full
drive of data out in "the wild" should make you nervous,
and if the data is sensitive, then the Aegis Padlock Fortress is the
tool to keep it secure. This is a drive designed specifically to
keep data secure for applications including the military, government,
and healthcare.
The encryption on the Aegis
Padlock Fortress is top notch. It is FIPS 140-2 certified. To achieve this level of
certification requires that is has military grade AES-XTS 256-bit
hardware encryption. The XTS is a newer algorithm, that reportedly
uses 2 cipher keys simultaneously, to provide a greater level of security than other algorithms.
This drive also has two
integral features to keep the data safe. The first is called "Forced
enrollment," which requires users to setup their password the
first time they attempt to use the device. The second is that the
drive is not partitioned, and the entire drive is encrypted and
private (in other words there is no "Public area"). These
defaults ensure the drive is used the way is was intended, and the
security must be utilized by the user.
In the box is the following:
- Aegis Padlock Fortress- 1 terabyte capacity
- Quick start guide
- USB Y cable
- Case
The drive has a sealed case
that is dust and water resistant. There is also an integrated USB
cable. The keypad is designed to be sealed, and resistant to
moisture, wear, and dust. It has a weight of 6.7 oz, and is 0.75"
x 3.3" x 4.7". It houses a 2.5" laptop hard drive,
with an 8 MB buffer.
The drive is compatible with
both USB 2.0 and the faster 3.0 standard. The first time the Padlock
Fortress is plugged into the computer, the unit does a quick self
test, and the LED's across the top let you know that it is working.
A password must be entered, which is 7 to 16 digits long. For an
even more unique password, the shift key can be used to generate more
characters. In some cases, the drive will require more power than a
single USB port can provide, in which case the Y cable should be
used. Testing was done on a Lenovo sleekbook, and I needed the Y
cable for setup, but not for subsequent accessing. There is no
software to install as it is all self contained on the drive, which
makes the Padlock Fortress compatible with all OS's (Windows, Mac and
Linux), with no administrator rights needed for use. Once unlocked,
the drive comes preloaded with a 19 page user manual as a PDF on the
drive.
The Aegis Padlock Fortress
has multiple security features:
- Unattended auto lock
- Self destruct pin
- Brute force protection
The drive comes formatted
NTFS. The 1 terabyte capacity drive I tested had 931 GB of usable
capacity. This is the usual capacity formatting issue as a
megabyte is 1024 bytes, and not 1000 bytes and standard for any
storage device. The drive has one partition.
HD Tune 2.55 was used to
benchmark the speeds of the drive. The speeds were acceptable on a
USB 2.0 connection, with an average speed of 28.3 MB/sec, and a
maximum of 31.9 MB/sec (displayed above as the upper HD Tune graph). This was consistent with other drives
tested, and the bottleneck here is the USB 2.0 port. Plugging this
into the USB 3.0 port was rewarded with a significant speed increase.
The average went to 88.6 MB/sec, with a maximum 115.4 MB/sec, which
is the fastest speed I have clocked from a mechanical hard drive (displayed as the lower HD Tune graph).
Clearly, for those that have access to the USB 3.0 port, this device
benefits from it quite a bit.
The drive is currently
available in the following capacities:
- 500 GB- $349 (hard drive)
- 750 GB- $399 (hard drive)
- 1 TB- $419 (hard drive)
- 128 GB- $399 (SSD)
- 256 GB- $599 (SSD)
- 512 GB- $899 (SSD)
While testing was done on
the mechanical hard drive, those desiring an even faster drive should
consider the solid state drive (SSD). It has a 3 year warranty.
Overall grade: A
Jonas
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