Page 2: Testing, Conclusion
Testing:
The drive performs well with regards to read and write speeds. It easily does 20MB/s on reading and writing. It probably is saturating the USB subsystem at that point. The 1.8" drive probably can handle faster speeds, but this sort of speed is sufficient for USB protable drives. Let's take a look at what security features the drive has since that is the most interesting part. Otherwise, as a normal portable USB drive, it works fine.
Thankfully, Honeywell saw fit to include the security software on the drive itself instead of having to install it using the CD. Once you plug in the drive and run the standalone EXE, you are presented with the option to enable security on the drive.
Warning! Enabling security on the drive will destroy its contents. This is true since the way it handles security. The drive actually makes a separate partition for the secure portion of the drive. The insecure portion acts like normal. The problem is that the security chip only handles an 8 character password now. It is unfortunate that you can't put a longer password in and that hampers the security of the drive.
Once you setup the partition, the drive effectively changes its reported geometry. Let's say you want a 40GB secure partition. The drive re-partitions the space in half. One partition becomes secure and the second becomes open space for non secure use. When you plug in the drive to any computer running any operating system (including Linux), the drive reports itself as only being the insecure partition size and totally masks the secure partition. On Linux, you see the device (IE: /dev/sdb) and the single partition (IE: /dev/sdb1). When you plug the drive in Windows, you also only see the insecure portion. You need to run the software again.
Once you run the software, you are given the option of enabling the secure area of the drive. This basically switches which partition is in use. The secure partition becomes active and the insecure partition goes away. I find this process very interesting.
It only takes your password to unlock the drive and from there you have complete access. Very simple and effective to use.
Let's take a situation that would be very useful. Since the drive is labelled as 80GB, it would look pretty strange if the drive only reported 40GB when plugged in. Instead most people only need secure storage for certain documents that could probably fit in a 50MB area. A partition this small wouldn't even be noticed if the drive was stolen. That's the real value of this drive; The feeling of security for confidential documents if the drive gets stolen. Some government agencies and banks should take note of this.
I'm a bit let down of the lack of support for Mac and Linux, but until more companies realize that the world isn't owned by Microsoft, we'll have situations like this. Linux and Mac users can still access the drive as an insecure USB drive, but that takes the fun out of it.
I'm unsure if the secure partition is even encrypted, but I have my doubts. I would have thought that the 8 character limit would be for use as an encryption key, but there is nowhere on the box or the specs that lists the unit uses encryption. This product employs a data hiding scheme. It is good enough security for 99% of the world.
I've been looking over other reviews of this drive and I love how none of them mention any theory on how the secure portion of the drive works. People need to start taking security seriously and without proper knowledge, what's the point?
Conclusion:
The drive retails for about $200. This actually isn't a bad price for a 1.8" USB drive. There are other drives that offer the same size with no security features at around the same price. If you run Windows and want to make sure your mobile data is secure, look no further than the SecuraDrive from Honeywell. Mac or Linux users should check out the latest pricing for 1.8" slim drives and buy a less expensive one, if available.
I would like to thank Jason from SOYO (and Honeywell) for making this review possible.
The drive performs well with regards to read and write speeds. It easily does 20MB/s on reading and writing. It probably is saturating the USB subsystem at that point. The 1.8" drive probably can handle faster speeds, but this sort of speed is sufficient for USB protable drives. Let's take a look at what security features the drive has since that is the most interesting part. Otherwise, as a normal portable USB drive, it works fine.
Thankfully, Honeywell saw fit to include the security software on the drive itself instead of having to install it using the CD. Once you plug in the drive and run the standalone EXE, you are presented with the option to enable security on the drive.
Warning! Enabling security on the drive will destroy its contents. This is true since the way it handles security. The drive actually makes a separate partition for the secure portion of the drive. The insecure portion acts like normal. The problem is that the security chip only handles an 8 character password now. It is unfortunate that you can't put a longer password in and that hampers the security of the drive.
Once you setup the partition, the drive effectively changes its reported geometry. Let's say you want a 40GB secure partition. The drive re-partitions the space in half. One partition becomes secure and the second becomes open space for non secure use. When you plug in the drive to any computer running any operating system (including Linux), the drive reports itself as only being the insecure partition size and totally masks the secure partition. On Linux, you see the device (IE: /dev/sdb) and the single partition (IE: /dev/sdb1). When you plug the drive in Windows, you also only see the insecure portion. You need to run the software again.
Once you run the software, you are given the option of enabling the secure area of the drive. This basically switches which partition is in use. The secure partition becomes active and the insecure partition goes away. I find this process very interesting.
It only takes your password to unlock the drive and from there you have complete access. Very simple and effective to use.
Let's take a situation that would be very useful. Since the drive is labelled as 80GB, it would look pretty strange if the drive only reported 40GB when plugged in. Instead most people only need secure storage for certain documents that could probably fit in a 50MB area. A partition this small wouldn't even be noticed if the drive was stolen. That's the real value of this drive; The feeling of security for confidential documents if the drive gets stolen. Some government agencies and banks should take note of this.
I'm a bit let down of the lack of support for Mac and Linux, but until more companies realize that the world isn't owned by Microsoft, we'll have situations like this. Linux and Mac users can still access the drive as an insecure USB drive, but that takes the fun out of it.
I'm unsure if the secure partition is even encrypted, but I have my doubts. I would have thought that the 8 character limit would be for use as an encryption key, but there is nowhere on the box or the specs that lists the unit uses encryption. This product employs a data hiding scheme. It is good enough security for 99% of the world.
I've been looking over other reviews of this drive and I love how none of them mention any theory on how the secure portion of the drive works. People need to start taking security seriously and without proper knowledge, what's the point?
Conclusion:
The drive retails for about $200. This actually isn't a bad price for a 1.8" USB drive. There are other drives that offer the same size with no security features at around the same price. If you run Windows and want to make sure your mobile data is secure, look no further than the SecuraDrive from Honeywell. Mac or Linux users should check out the latest pricing for 1.8" slim drives and buy a less expensive one, if available.
I would like to thank Jason from SOYO (and Honeywell) for making this review possible.