Apricorn Aegis Padlock DT

Apricorn is a market leader in secure data storage.  They make a variety of external drives, in a full selection of capacities, all with built in security features.  The Apricorn Aegis Padlock DT is at the larger end of the scale, and represents a full size desktop hard drive in an external enclosure.

What's in the box?

• Aegis Padlock DT (available 2,3,4 or 6 TB)
• USB 3.0 cable
• Power supply
• Quick Start Guide
• Manual is supplied as a PDF on the drive

From the moment you pick it up, it is clear this is a serious piece of hardware.  It is made from an aluminum enclosure, with cooling holes front and back.  Also on the rear of this is a power switch, a USB connector, and a Kensington Lock slot.  The top features a numeric keyboard, and 3 LED's.

The Aegis Padlock DT uses 256 bit XTS AES hardware encryption.  AES stands for "Advanced Encryption Standard," and you can read all the details about it here.  It figures into the Federal Information Processing Standard, better known as FIPS 140-2, which is the federal governments approved data encryption standard (the 140-2 refers to the publication this got published in).  With the Padlock DT compliant with these standards, it makes it ideal for applications requiring a very high level of security, such as military, healthcare, or corporate applications.  The hard drive data gets encrypted on the fly.

The Padlock DT connects via a USB port.  It is USB 3.0, and is backwards compatible to the older USB 2.0 ports.  Speeds on a Lenovo notebook with a USB port were measured with CrystalDiskMark.  The sequential read and write speeds of 160.9 and 159.0 MB/s were quite fast, and show the effect of using a larger hard drive.

One of the pitfalls of having data on a hard drive that is secure is the software involved.  This includes the compatibility issue with the computer that the user attempts to mount the drive to.  The other issue is that the drive can be more vulnerable if the software interfaces with the computer platform.  The Padlock DT solves these problems by not having any software on the computer, and having it only internal to the drive.  When you connect the drive to the computer, and power it on, the password must be entered on the drive.  Once it has the correct password, and only then, does the drive communicate with the computer and then appear as a drive (prior to that it remains invisible).  This also means that the drive can be used on any version of Windows, Linux, or Apple as long as there is a USB port.

The drive I tested has a large capacity of 4 TB.  That is pretty much humongous, and I realized that this could back up all my data, from multiple computers, and still have space to spare.

The password (PIN) is designed to be quite secure.  It has a minimum of 7 digits, with a maximum of 16.  The password cannot be all the same digit (11111111), nor all consecutive digits (12345678) which ensures the user chooses an appropriate password.  Worried that someone will guess that password?  I would not as the drive can be set to autolock after a time period, the drive will have to be unplugged and replugged periodically with multiple incorrect PIN entries.  It can even be setup with a "Self destructing PIN" that with a preselected PIN, the Padlock DT will completely wipe and all data will be lost.

The Apricorn Aegis Padlock DT is a great combination of security and capacity.  It is ideal for offsite storage of sensitive data, such as in an office that rotates backup drives on a regular basis.  The entry point for this drive starts at $189 for the 1 TB model.

More info

-Jonas