When it comes to the inter-device data transfer, we have plenty of options like flash/USB drives, various sizes of SD cards and even external disks that are getting smaller and lighter by the day. However if you’re carrying sensitive data for your organization or even for personal use, there are barely any options out there.
Kingston’s DataTraveler 2000 changes this, as it brings a completely secure USB drive that comes with encryption that can be accessed with the keypad embedded right on the USB drive. It does make the size of the flash drive unusually big, but the designers have made sure it comes with a nice look. With a metallic finish and Kingston logo on the top, follows a black color that mentions the capacity of this drive, 32GB in my case. It comes with a nicely built keychain holder with great quality. The outer dimension with the sleeve or meta casing is 80mmx20mmx10.5mm.
The outer design is actually just the cover that holds tight the keypad secured actual flash drive. You’ve to put some pressure to get the device out of the cover, and you’re presented with 0 to 9 keypad with two locks and unlock buttons with LEDs along with them. And below all the numbers there is a big button with a key symbol.
When you put this device into your laptop/PC for the first time, you’ll find the blue light flashing slowly on the biggest key-symbolled button. When you press the Key, you ‘ll see the red light flashing on the Lock LED. This tells you that the device is locked. At this stage even if you connect the drive to PC or Mac, it won’t show anything connected on the file explorer.
At this stage, you can enter the default key (for first-time use) Key-1-1-2-2-3-3-4-4-Key. This will make the red light blinking stop, the green LED will be lit on the second unlock icon, and your device is not encrypted and visible on your PC/Mac. The default secret key can be changed easily, I would recommend 4 digit pin to make it easy to remember.
Once you’re done with your data access or transfer, you can again lock the device with the same procedure. The process seems complex for the first time user, but frequent usage makes you comfortable using this encrypted DataTraveller 2000.
The data transfer speeds on these flash drives are pretty good, compared to a regular flash drive. But the key highlight of this device is hardware-based encryption, that protects your personal or organizational sensitive data. This protected flash drive offers 256-bit AES encryption in XTS mode if you’re interested in knowing the security level of this product.
The 32GB DataTraveller I received is USB 3.1 based and it has 135MB/s of reading speed and a whopping 40MB/s writing speed. This device is also dustproof and waterproof as its IP57 certified.
Verdict
Priced at Rs.12, 880, Kingston DataTraveller 2000 is something that barely has competition in the market. It protects your data with high-end hardware encryption technology comes with impressive data speeds and offers you the peace of mind that no other flash drive can with your private data.
If you personally or your organization in need of such a secured data transfer solution, Kingston DT2000 is highly recommended!