Posted on 06/21/2005 8:39:13 PM PDT by ConservativeMind
For those reliant on laptops for work, data security can often be an issue, especially if the laptop is stolen. Various third-party encryption tools are available, but Seagate looks to one-up them with its new Hardware-Based Full Disc Encryption (FDE). Slated to begin shipping in 2006, the drives automatically encrypt data as it is written to the drive.
Seagate will offer hardware-based full disc encryption technology on its new Momentus FDE family of hard drives, providing the industry's strongest protection against unauthorized access to data on stolen or retired notebook PCs. FDE technology requires only a user key to encrypt all data, not just selected files or partitions, on the drive.
FDE uses Triple DES to do the job and will be available on its Momentus 5400 2.5" hard drives for laptops in sizes ranging from 40GB to 120GB. Seagate also claims the drives will have performance identical to other 5400 rpm drives without the built-in encryption. Pricing has not been announced, but expect to pay a premium for the FDE drives.
These drives should prove very popular in certain industries, especially with defense contractors and others who deal with sensitive or classified information. Even if a laptop with an FDE drive is stolen or retired without the drives being wiped, the data on there will be unreadable without the user key. Data recovery services will still be able to pull the raw data from drives, although it too will be encrypted. Maybe the IT department over at Los Alamos will invest in a few of these babies—then they won't have to worry if one of their drives disappears.
What this means is that the DSP chip on the drive that handles reads and writes to the drive has extra horsepower that was going unused, so Seagate figured out how to make use of it... good for them!
This kind of stuff has been out for years ... didn't Dell start doing this in 2001?
My respect for Seagate increases daily. Not only are they prepping 7200 RPM laptop HDs, but they're the only company to offer 5 year warranties on their products.
What's depressing, though, is that the security situation has gotten so bad that manufacturers are having to come up with hardware solutions. While I appreciate the help, what's stopping, say, Intel from deciding (with the "help" of the RIAA) that my mp3 collection is a vast storage of undesirable files, and implementing a hardware solution to lock them out?
Not for 2.5 inch laptop drives. Those have had a speed premium. Even so, these latest are 5400 RPM units-- not the fastest. My IBM laptop has a 7200 RPM drive, and I'd find it painful to go back to 5400. Fortunately Seagate is talking about faster units within a year or two.
It won't work. People will carve the key into the cover of the laptop so they don't forget it.
A lot of lost or stolen ATM cards have the pin number written on them.
Seagate's bringing 7200RPM drives out in Spring 2006.
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