SMB IT | Curtis Franklin » External Storage for the Discriminating Road Warrior

June 02, 2006 | Comments: (0)

External Storage for the Discriminating Road Warrior

TAGS: SMB Hardware

Posted on this over at Technology Filter, but it's definitely a fit here, too. There are numerous external USB-based hard disks on the market. Most of them just a straight IDE or notebook drive in a metal shell with a USB-out. That works, but leaves a number of design issues open. Design issues that were recently addressed by an outfit called Rocsecure.

These guys make a number of external hard disk products, but the one I like best is the Rocbit series. Available in sizes from 40GB to 500GB, these puppies also include hardware-level encryption. And not wimp encryption, either, but 40/64/128 or 192-bit DES or Triple DES encryption. Me? I'd opt for at least 128-bit because it's being processed in hardware off the drive anyway--won't slow down my notebook CPU at all. And with 128- or 192-bit the average notebook bag thief is going to get pretty much nada off the drive. Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy.

But the Rocbit also goes beyond the call when it comes to chassis design. Instead of just a simple hard plastic shell, this case is specifically designed for external drive use, incorporating features lik noise reduction, cooling and an anti-shock feature, too.

Finally, you can get every Rocbit in either USB-only or USB + Firewire mode. That covers plug and play under both Windows and the OS X and Rocsecure's also managed to come up with tested Linux support as well.

Starts at $160, but well worth the sheckels.

Posted by Oliver Rist on June 2, 2006 01:04 PM

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