iStorage datAshur 8GB review

Military-grade security for your USB flash drive

iStorage datAshur
Keep your USB flash drive files extra secure, but at the expense of speed

TechRadar Verdict

Pros

  • +

    Very secure

  • +

    Military level encryption

  • +

    Splash-proof chassis

Cons

  • -

    Slow transfer speed

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iStorage has done a brisk business in acknowledging the inherent security threats that come with us putting so many of our important and sensitive personal files onto small and easy to lose USB flash drives. Along with AES 256-bit encryption, iStorage devices include a numeric pad for typing in a pin, for even greater security. The iStorage DiskGenie devices were certainly secure, but rather unwieldy.

With the iStorage datAshur USB drive, however, physical security is packed into a nicely compact device not much bigger than a lot of other USB flash drives.

Before accessing the drive you need to press the key symbol, enter the default PIN number then press the key symbol again. You then have 30 seconds to plug it into a USB port. Without unlocking the iStorage datAshur first, our test PC simply threw up a 'driver not installed' error and prevented us from seeing the data stored on it.

With the correct PIN entered, the drive behaved like normal - but with a few differences. Speed, for example, was quite a bit slower than other drives, with read speeds averaging around 12MB/s. Read and write speeds together are even worse, averaging a paltry 5.1MB/s.

On the packaging it says USB 2.0/3.0, which might lead you to think that this is a USB 3.0 device. But the transfer rates prove otherwise, and iStorage confirmed to us that the drive is USB 2.0, and that the slow transfer speeds were down to the advanced hardware encryption included in the iStorage datAshur.

Verdict

The encryption and extra layer of physical security, along with its splash-proof casing, makes the iStorage datAshur a great device for protecting your files - but the slow speeds are a real let down.

Matt Hanson
Managing Editor, Core Tech

Matt is TechRadar's Managing Editor for Core Tech, looking after computing and mobile technology. Having written for a number of publications such as PC Plus, PC Format, T3 and Linux Format, there's no aspect of technology that Matt isn't passionate about, especially computing and PC gaming. Ever since he got an Amiga A500+ for Christmas in 1991, he's loved using (and playing on) computers, and will talk endlessly about how The Secret of Monkey Island is the best game ever made.