Today’s San Francisco Tech Support blog highlights great article by PC World on the value of secure drives over security software. I’m not sure if this is necessarily the case, however, it’s obvious that if your drive is separated from your PC (and in your possession) it will be more secure than left in a relatively public space. Until you lose it, that is. At which point, it becomes a whole lot less secure. Unless you have purchased a secure hard drive that is.
Which is why you need hardware-encrypted storage.
Unlike software-based encryption systems, secure hard drives lock out intruders at the hardware level, preventing anyone from seeing any part of the drive until they enter a secure password. This prevents hackers from using conventional software tools to circumvent your encryption.
Perhaps the two best products on the market at the moment for mall businesses are the notebook-friendly varieties. Internal notebook drives like the Seagate Momentus 5400 FDE.3 prevent your mobile PC from even starting without a password, making it virtually impossible to get to your data. External models like the Maxtor BlackArmor Portable Hard Drive let you add security layers to your mobile systems without retrofitting your laptop.
If you put all of your critical business data on a Maxtor BlackArmor drive, you can be reasonably sure that it will never find its way into enemy hands in readable form. Because when you plug in a the drive for the first time, you are prompted to create a secure password. From that point forward, the drive will be protected. Unplug it from your USB port, and it will use its last trickle of power to relock itself instantly. A thief will have a hard time getting inside – as will a professional data-recovery service - so whatever you do, don’t forget your password – and don’t store it on that drive!
For more info on security systems and for other IT support, contact: SanFranciscoTechSupport.com