INTRODUCTION

   PIN authenticated drives may only be a very small percentage of the storage industry currently but they've been rising in popularity steadily for the past several years especially among professionals (both individuals and government employees) who place data security/safety above performance and of course cost. Still there are always some who also care about performance so most PIN authenticated drives in the market are available with both "regular" hard disk drives and the much faster solid state drives (SSDs). Now although we've yet to see PIN authenticated portable SSDs based on M.2 NVMe models and the USB 3.1 Gen2 protocol (thus allowing for much higher data transfer performance) there are quite a few USB 3.1 Gen1 models based on SATA III/600 2.5" drives and after testing their award winning diskAshur PRO2 by iStorage today with us we have the diskAshur2 1TB SSD.

   iStorage is the trusted global leader of award winning PIN authenticated, hardware encrypted data storage devices. Delivering the most innovative products to securely store and protect data to military specified encryption levels; safeguarding valuable business information whilst ensuring compliance to regulations and directives.

   The diskAshur2 1TB SSD (the diskAshur2 line includes hard disk drive models in 500GB/1TB/2TB/3TB/4TB/5TB capacities and solid state drive models in 128/256/512/1TB/2TB/4TB capacities) by iStorage offers the same exact feature set as the rest of the current diskAshur2 family of PIN authenticated (platform/device independent / 7-15 digit codes) drives so it's yet another completely tamper-proof (protected against brute attacks, external tamper, bypass laser attacks and fault injections) USB 3.1 portable drive. The diskAshur2 line also incorporates real-time military grade FIPS PUB 197 validated AES-XTS 256-bit hardware encryption (common criteria EAL4+ microprocessor) along with an epoxy covered keypad (makes it virtually impossible for people to tell which have been used), interior hardware components covered with a super tough layer of epoxy resin (virtually impossible to remove without causing severe damage) and an IP56 certified (dust and water resistant) rubber coated enclosure (available in red, blue, green and black colors). For all of you who may be wondering as to what SSD models iStorage is using for their diskAshur2 line it's actually the same as with their slightly more advanced (sports more security certifications) diskAshur PRO2 line so once again we see the SU800 2.5" model by ADATA (based on the Silicon Motion SM2258 NAND controller with 3D TLC NAND).

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

At the front of the box iStorage has placed their logo, product picture, capacity included and a list of the main product features.

You can check the included enclosure color along with the serial number and 2 barcodes from the right side of the box.

A drawing of compatible devices is placed on the left side of the box along with the bundle contents.

Both the product features and specifications are printed at the rear in 5 languages.

The entire bundle is safely wrapped inside bubble wrap.

Along with the diskAshur2 drive the box also contains a carrying/storage case, NERO BackItUp software license, iStorage DriveSecurity software license and the quick start guide.

THE DISKASHUR2 1TB SSD

The bundled carrying/storage case is quite thick and with enough room for just the diskAshur2 drive.

Measuring 124mm in length, 84mm in width and 19mm in height/thickness the 180g heavy diskAshur2 1TB SSD is quite compact.

To have a better understanding about its size we placed it right next to the SecureDrive BT 2TB SSD by SECUREDATA and the diskAshur PRO2 512GB SSD again by iStorage.

The 13-key keypad is placed at the top of the enclosure right beneath three activity LEDs (lock status).

A USB cable is hardwired into the enclosure and stored on the left side (since it's only 120mm in length you may need an USB extension cable).

At the base of the enclosure we find 4 small rubber feet and a sticker pointing to the encryption specifications of the product.

Just like with the diskAshur PRO2 SSD line the diskAshur2 SSD line contains an SU800 2.5" SATA III/600 SSD by ADATA.

TEST BED

TESTING METHODOLOGY

   Solid state drives are basically the same as USB flash drives and so we’re using almost the same testing methodology to successfully record achieved read & write performance numbers in our charts*. The benchmark suites used are HD Tach RW (Read Speeds / Long Bench 32mb Zone Testing), HD Tune Pro (Read speeds), Sisoftware Sandra Pro (Read / Write speeds), AIDA 64 Engineer Edition (Average Linear Read / Random Read speeds), Crystal Disk Mark x64 (100MB-1000MB Read / Write speeds) and finally ATTO (Max Read / Max Write speeds). Every test is repeated a total of 6 times after which the average performance numbers are recorded into our charts (0 = we were unable to complete that test).

   All tests are performed with our main rig running Microsoft Windows 10 Pro installation on a HyperX Predator 480GB PCIe SSD with all updates installed up to the 19th of December 2018. As always for comparison purposes in the charts you will also find many other flash drivers which have been tested using the same exact test bench as the one in this review (we really can't keep every flash drive we get forever and also even if we could test them all again and again would simply not be possible).

* Since November 2018 we started new charts only for portable solid state drives.

TEST RESULTS - AIDA64 / ATTO

TEST RESULTS - HD TACH RW / HD TUNE PRO

TEST RESULTS - SISOFTWARE SANDRA PRO / CRYSTAL DISK MARK X64

CONCLUSION

   Although the diskAshur2 PIN authenticated drives by iStorage may not feature the same security certifications as the more expensive diskAshur PRO2 line it actually works just as well and should cover every potential buyer out there. Of course, just like with the diskAshur PRO2 the diskAshur2 sports the same SSD inside (SU800 by ADATA) and so the end result is once again not that great in terms of read and write performance. Still the diskAshur2 1TB SSD is much faster than its HDD based brothers so that also matters. As for the security/safety features of the drive all work as advertised (only feature we didn’t test was the IP56 certification since we didn’t want to risk damage to the drive) and once again we do like the choice of colors (phantom black, fiery red, racing green and ocean blue) since with it iStorage can cover a wider range of consumers of all ages.

   PIN authenticated storage media devices are aimed towards a very specific segment of the market and just like enterprise-grade products that means they don’t come cheap. That being said with a current price tag set at USD477 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and 640Euros inside the EU (Amazon.co.uk) the diskAshur2 1TB PIN Authenticated Portable SSD may seem far from affordable but that really shouldn’t matter much for buyers who need the extra protection offered by such a drive. On top of the extra security add performance (may not be stellar but still far better compared to HDD models) and a 2 year warranty and the diskAshur2 1TB PIN Authenticated Portable SSD is definitely worth our Golden Award.

PROS

- Build Quality (IP56 Certified Enclosure)
- PIN Authenticated
- Security Measures (AES-XTS 256-bit Hardware Encryption/EDGE Chip/Interior Epoxy Layer)
- Good Performance (For A Portable SSD)
- Hardwired USB Cable
- Available In 128GB/256GB/512GB/1TB/2TB/4TB Capacities
- HDD & SSD Models
- Epoxy Coated Keypad (Wear Resistant)
- DriveSecurity & NERO BackItUp Software License
- Bundled Carrying/Storage Case

CONS

- Price (For Some)
- USB Cable Length