Apricorn Aegis Bio 120GB Portable Hardware Encrypted Hard Drive (A25-BIO-120)

List Price: $219.00 Discount Price: $148.99

Features:

• Meets requirements for HIPAA, Sarbanes Oxley, CA SB-1386
• Biometrically secure, just swipe finger for access
• Real-time 128-bit AES hardware encrypted Hard Drive
• Bus powered from integrated Hi-Speed USB 2.0 Cable
• 16 point omni directional shock mounting system

Accessories:

Aluratek High-Speed USB 2.0 External 500GB Hard Drive - Silver (ACBS350500F)

Customer Reviews:

solid hardware, good software but not for a Mac [Posted on 2007-09-07]
Based on early reviews, I bought the Aegis Bio to protect my sensitive work files. The Aegis Bio is 128-bit hardware-encrypted - even if the drive is removed from the case it can't be read. The drive itself is well-designed, compact, lightweight. A single USB cable is attached and provides both power and signal to the drive (unlike some other drives that require separate cables for power and signal). In a nice design touch, the cable stores in a slot on the side of the case. In another nice move, Apricorn includes a thin neoprene sleeve case that offers some protection.

On Windows, performance is good but not as fast as an unencrypted USB 2.0 drive. On my Core 2 Duo / USB 2.0 configuration (Windows XP) I can write to the Aegis Bio at around 19MB/sec.

On Mac OS X, unfortunately, the drive is not recognized as a USB 2.0 device so performance is unusable for anything but small files. On both my PowerMac G5 and MacBook Pro Core 2 Duo running OS X 10.4.10, the drive is only recognized as a USB 1.1 device, regardless of what USB port I use (on the machine or through a USB 2.0 hub). This is apparently a common issue with Apple's OS X USB drivers. But on the same MacBook Pro, booted under Windows XP with Apple's BootCamp, using the same USB port, the drive is recognized at full USB 2.0 speed.

Aegis advertises this as a Windows and Mac device, although they clearly state that you must have access to a Windows machine to setup the drive, and register or change fingerprints. Also on Windows (but not Mac OS X), Apricorn provides software that lets you use the fingerprint reader to authenticate and auto-fill passwords in Web pages and system prompts.

One limitation that Apricorn doesn't clearly state is that the drive can only be formatted FAT32 and only using the Apricorn Aegis Formatter utility. If you try to use the built-in OS formatting utilities on Windows (or Mac) you will be unable to mount the drive on any other computer - apparently a side-effect of their hardware encryption. Apricorn doesn't provide a download for the formatter - it is only included on the install CD, so keep a copy handy if you need it. Although FAT32 provides the "lowest common denominator" for read/write across platforms without additional software, individual files cannot be greater than 2GB on the Aegis Bio.

Based on the Windows-only (and limiting) formatter, Windows-only drive activation and registration software, and slow USB 1.1-speeds under MacOS X, I cannot recommend this drive for Mac users, hence the 3-star review. If you're only on Windows, you'll probably be happy with this drive as long as you don't have to store files larger than 2GB (if so, you're out of luck).

For Mac users, it looks like the best choice might be the LaCie Safe Mobile USB 2.0 drive with encryption. LaCie provides both Mac and PC software and fingerprint registration, lets you format the drive using standard formatting utilties, and from other reviews this drive is recognized by OS X at full USB 2.0 speeds.

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