External hard drives are a dime a dozen. That's not exactly true of course but we certainly are not lacking for choice. I've got half a dozen of them scattered around my workplace or in my desk drawers but none is as safe as this latest product from Apricorn: a 3TB USB 3.0 unit with keypad encryption. And that's not all so let's have a good look at the Aegis Padlock DT.

Apricorn has brought out a slew of encrypted hard drives with keypads over the years. We have reviewed a few as well as many other external drive solutions from Poway, California, where they are based. We never failed to be impressed with what Apricorn has sent us and many of their products have garnered our Editor's Choice Award.

So, expectations are high. The build quality is outstanding: the unit feels very solid, a tad heavy, and no visible screws on the enclosure. That's a good thing because this is supposed to be a very secure device. Most notable is the keypad with above that a small LED panel. There are ventilation openings at the front and the back has a switch for the 12 V power pack and the USB 3.0 port. The keypad is decidedly bigger than the one on the USB flash drive we reviewed not so long ago but the procedure for entering your own unique pin is very similar.

When you first hook up the drive (there is really no installation process as the drive works straight out of the box with any Windows machine-for Mac units it needs a reformat) you can put in the default pin but the whole point of course is to assign your own key to the device. If you need to share your data up to 5 personal pin numbers can be assigned.

Encryption is again to military standards and you have a choice between AES 128 and 256 bit encryption. The difference? In price only 10 bucks for the stronger type. If you're not in the military or have supersensitive projects you're working on, the 128 bit will do just fine.

Read Entire Review

Highly recommended!
Or if you are mathematically inclined our score of would be a 9/10.

Poway, CA – February 2, 2012 – Apricorn, a leading designer and manufacturer of data security products for business, has expanded their award winning Aegis Secure Drives to the desktop environment with the announcement of a new, powerful desktop edition, the Aegis Padlock DT. Sporting a spacious capacity of up to 3 TB with a Super Speed USB 3.0 interface, the Aegis Padlock DT not only provides immense storage and lightning fast access speeds, but also protects its data with seamless AES-XTS hardware encryption and secure PIN access. With its software free design, simple setup and starting price of $229, the Aegis Padlock DT provides a complete data storage solution that is affordable, secure and effortless to deploy in a demanding office environment.

What a nifty, brilliant device! That's my first reaction when I opened up the nonretail packaging that Apricorn sent it in. On the outside it is rather nondescript but when you pull the cover off it looks like a mini Fort Knox with three LEDs, 10 buttons for inputting your pin number and a slightly larger button with a key symbol on it. Is this the most secure USB key? Well, let's put in the default pin to get started and let's find out.

When you need to transport highly sensitive data, sending it in email or over the Internet may not be such a great idea. Transporting a physical drive holding the encrypted data significantly reduces points of possible exposure. Even so, a determined hacker could attack the decryption software, possibly compromising the data. The fully self-contained Aegis Secure Key ($65 direct) uses an onboard PIN pad rather than relying on software. That $65 price gets you a 4GB unit; 8GB and 16GB devices can be had for $95 and $125 respectively.

Since no software is needed, you can use the drive with any USB-capable device, regardless of the operating system. Windows, Mac OS, Linux—even a proprietary device with a proprietary operating system would be fine as long as it supports USB.

Button-based Configuration

In many ways Aegis Secure Key resembles LOK-IT Secure Flash Drive ($76.25 direct, 4 stars). That's only natural, as both license some basic technology from the same source. Both work with any USB-capable operating system, both use an onboard PIN pad for access, both destroy the stored data after ten bad guesses, and so on. However, there are some significant differences.

Click to Read Entire PC Mag Comparison and Review >>

Poway, CA – December 15, 2011 – Apricorn, the leader in personal storage, today announced the Mac Edition of their Aegis NetDock ($229 for 1TB model), an ultra-compact 3 in 1 USB Docking Station, combining a 4-port USB Hub, dual layer DVD burner and 1TB hard drive in a footprint smaller than a stapler. An ideal accessory to Apple’s MacBook Air, the Aegis NetDock instantly adds desktop functionality with a single USB connection.

Apricorn's upgrade kit lets you use SATA 3.0 hard drives and SSDs in an older PC.

Read entire product review at Computerworld

If you're contemplating the cost of a new Windows-based computer to catch up with SATA 3.0 hard drives, you might be able to get away with just a $49 investment rather than a complete PC overhaul. Apricorn's Velocity Solo upgrade kit gives you access to SATA 3.0 hard drives and SSDs -- all you need is an x1 PCIe 2.0 slot -- and a SATA 3.0 drive, of course.

Poway, CA – December 7, 2011 – Apricorn, a leading manufacturer of data security products for government, healthcare and business, today announced the addition of the Aegis Secure Key - a USB Encrypted Flash Drive - to its secure drive offering. Built around an alphanumeric keypad for secure PIN access and featuring real-time military grade AES CBC 256-bit hardware encryption, Apricorn’s latest product offering provides powerful data security that is simple to use. Ideal for travel with its water and dust resistant aluminum casing, tamper resistant circuitry, slim design and attractive $65 price point (for 4 GB model), the Aegis Secure Key provides a compelling feature set for anyone looking to secure their data.

Poway, CA – October 25, 2011 – Apricorn is reacting to this disaster as quickly as possible. However, as a result of this disaster pricing is subject to change daily and we are unable to commit to pricing on any scheduled orders. We will accept scheduled orders, which will help to secure your allocation of drives, and if the price is changed prior to shipment we will contact you to confirm the new price, or provide you the option of canceling your order.

We apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your patience.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-205_162-20124788/thai-floods-expect-months-of-hard-drive-shortages/

Poway, CA – September 7, 2011 – Today Apricorn announced the enhancement of its popular SATA Wire Notebook Hard Drive Upgrade Kit with a super fast USB 3.0 interface. The new connection allows for upgrade speeds up to 10x faster than with traditional USB 2.0. Priced at just $29 and bundled with Apricorn’s popular EZ Gig Cloning Software, the all inclusive upgrade kit provides a USB 3.0 connection to ANY 2.5” SATA notebook hard drive or SSD (solid state drive), providing a fast and affordable way to upgrade your notebook’s performance and capacity.

Poway, CA – August 10, 2011 – Apricorn today announced the introduction of its Velocity Solo SSD Upgrade Kit for desktop computers, an easy to install solution for instantly increasing your desktop system’s performance. Created specifically for standard desktop systems, the Velocity Solo is an industry standard PCIe 2.0 x1 card designed to add a 2.5” Solid State Drive (SSD) via a super fast SATA III (6 Gbps) connection. The Solo also provides an additional SATA III data connection that can be used to connect to another SSD or HDD to provide expanded high speed storage. Priced at $49 and bundled with Apricorn’s EZ Gig Cloning Software, the Velocity Solo offers an affordable solution for boosting desktop performance.

Tornadoes, floods, wildfires and other disasters in different parts of the country this year have brought the importance of disaster protection and backup to mind for accountants and their clients.

One company that specializes in secure backup protection is Apricorn, whose line of password-encrypted portable hard drives is designed to keep sensitive data protected from not only natural disasters, but also prying eyes.

Shouldn’t we all be taking stock of our Disaster Readiness Plans? Sure, we all know the importance of keeping our most important documents, such as birth certificates and Social Security Cards safe. Whether than be in a fireproof safe in the floor of your home or in a safety deposit box off site. But shouldn’t we also consider keeping an electronic version of these as well? When an emergency strikes we often don’t have much time or space to take our most important belongings with us. In these cases, picking a small drive with an electronic version of our most important documents is much easier than trying to pull files and folders from filing cabinets or safes. And these documents are easily accessible, an important thing to consider especially when returning to your home quickly may not be an option. What drive you use is just as important as what you put on it. 

Most notebooks and netbooks come with a hard drive that is simply too small. With our digital packrat mentality, let’s face it that 250 GB or 320 GB just does not cut it anymore. Clearly there is a need for storage expansion, however, there is always a danger of taking sensitive information onto a portable platform. Filling the need for such a device is the Aegis Padlock which offers increased hard drive space, and password level protection of the contents.