INTRODUCTION

   Critical data is not something the majority of people out there have but if you happen to be one of those people and are looking for safe/secure storage then your options in today’s market are somewhat limited. Having used and reviewed many hardware encrypted drives over the years i know just how limited those options are and even though there are more choices in the market today than even just 5 years ago these represent but a tiny percentage of the storage media market. Certainly, this isn't something strange, sales numbers are what really matters for most manufacturers and since such drives are primarily aimed towards professionals and government employees working on sensitive projects not many are willing to invest on that. Luckily companies like DataLocker have been supporting this "niche" segment of the market and today I’ll be testing their DL4 FE 1TB Encrypted Portable SSD model.

   DataLocker is a world leader in encryption solutions. With over 35 patents, our technology is at the heart of almost every encrypted hardware and software solution in the market. Our award-winning product line includes everything from encrypted hardware and cloud storage to remote device management. They’re proud to be used by two-thirds of Fortune 100 companies and security and military agencies at the highest levels of the Federal Government. Their products combine convenience with usability and state-of-the-art security to give users a “Simply Secure“experience.

   As the name clearly states the DataLocker DL4 FE (currently available in 1/2/4/7.6/15.3TB capacities for the SSD versions and 500GB/1TB/2TB capacities for the HDD versions) is the successor to their award winning DL3 FE model and so as expected things could only improve from there. For starters the DL4 FE is an FIPS 140-2 Level 3 drive and one of the things you'll notice immediately is that this time over DataLocker has used a color LCD touch screen which you can use to enter your pin and configure the drive properties (also features a rotating alphanumeric keypad which makes it impossible for 3rd parties to guess your PIN). Needless to say thanks to that color LCD screen you just need to plug the drive into your system and follow the instructions, no need to even look for the user manual. Under the brushed aluminum housing of the DL4 FE we find a single common criteria EAL5+ certified controller which helps provide AES 256-bit XTS hardware encryption alongside several features such as brute force password protection (data is erased after a user specified number of failed PIN attempts), silentkill mode (data is erased when a specific PIN is inputted) and remote device detonation (user can destroy the device remotely). Of course, the DL4 FE also comes ready with a read-only mode, onboard anti-malware which further safeguards your data and remote management features (including geofencing) which we don't see by most of the competition. So let's see just how the DL4 FE compares to both its predecessor and several other portable USB encrypted drives.