IF HAVING TO pay $7+ per gigabyte for
secure flash drives makes you blanch, consider the Lenovo ThinkPad USB 3.0
Secure Hard Drive. At $200 for 750GB or about 27 cents per gigabyte it’s
a lot more affordable than secure flash drives. Plus, the 2.5 inch device is
faster than USB flash drives. The drive is sealed against intrusion and occupies
a Lightly ruggedized chassis. It uses 256-bit AES encryption integrated into
the drive controller, and is software free; you unlock
your data by using a keypad on the top of the unit; this is faster and more
convenient than waiting for software to Launch, and it makes the unit
compatible with any operating system or device.
The drive’s security system provides an
administrative PIN and ten user PINs. Eight digits are required for all PINS. Accessing
the drive is as simple as press ing the green unlock button and entering your
PIN.
The Lenovo Secure Hard Drive was a
good performer in PCWorld's tests, writing a 10GB mix of small files and
folders at 39.4 MBps and reading the same mix at 64.3 MBps. With a single Large
file, speeds were 89.2 MBps and 99.7 MBps, respectively.
If you don't need the tiny size of a
USB flash drive, the Lenovo Secure Hard Drive offers a much better deal.
