Posted to Hard Drives 2009-11-25
With concerns over data security via the digital world a little more apparent each day, Lacie has stepped in and given some extra safeguards with the LaCie d2 SAFE Hard Drive 301503U. What makes this external hard drive one for the security conscious is its use of biometric finger scanning that can be used with up to 5 different profiles, ensuring no unauthorized access is given to the sensitive material located on the drive. Other features of this drive get overshadowed by the biometric fingerprint scanner, but the SAFE Hard Drive does have a 2TB capacity that will look after most backup requirements of a home user. The added benefit of the connections available to your PC or Mac will also help to make this drive a worthy choice for your backup solution with Firewire 800,400 and USB 2.0 available. Unfortunately, the significantly faster eSATA interface did not get a look in this model, so ensure that maximum data transfer speed is not a concern before you get your hands on one.
PerformanceData transfer rates with Firewire 800 and 400 are adequate enough for data backups that you will be making, but the inclusion of the eSATA interface would have meant the hard drive gained some extra brownie points on speed. The encryption that is used is a standard AES 128-bit which keeps your data protected. The standard Lacie backup software is used in this model which sometimes lacks the performance of other commercial options. ErgonomicsIn keeping with the previous designs by Neil Poulton, the SAFE hard drive has kept the heat sink case structure that surrounds the physical hard drive components. There is no use reinventing the wheel that works and heat problems are well taken care of in this design. The fingerprint scanner is conveniently placed on top of the drive and is very responsive, though you will need to keep the top of the drive accessible to the hand should you setup the security profiles. SummaryGone appear to be the days when your external drive could be easily plugged into any machine and browsed at will thanks to the Biometric scanner on the d2 SAFE Hard Drive. Commercial applications of this technology are justified but regular home data backups will probably not need something with as much security as this drive provides. The 3-year warranty is a plus, but with no eSATA connection this drive may quickly be outpaced by other offerings. Pros
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