“You were good enough to supply us with 12 x 8GB Datashur (the black ones) USB drives earlier this year, and we’ve been very happy with them since after one or two initial hiccups and some excellent customer service from your colleagues.”

“…Many thanks for the USB 3.0 datAshur PRO…I have been using the diskAshur and datAshuriStorage Products for 3 years and have found them to be excellent. They are portable, yet extremely robust and work as described. The hardware encryption is vital for my role as a radiologist and their compatibility with Mac OS and Windows makes them ideal for use at work and at home across many devices. I have found the iStorage customer service to be exemplary with knowledgeable staff able to answer my questions in a timely manner.”

“I am sending this email to thank you for your kindness and PROfessionalism. The monitoring did throughout the PROcess (clarification and purchase) was certainly the best I have received. On Thursday, October 29, I received at home datAshur 120GB SSD flash drive. The time of shipment was super fast, the recording of the text and Dragon is excellent, the USB datAshur 120GB is beautiful, sturdy, functional … just brutal. I am very satisfied with the equipment. It remains for me to congratulate Melanie for these reasons and will iStorage the quality of Products. I became a fan of iStorage”

Commenting on datAshur USB flash drive “Well I can say as someone who deals with confidential data and has to be on the move, the ability to store said data safely both physically and electronically is a massive boon. It’s convenient enough that it doesn’t take an age to get it loaded onto a system. It is exactly like a USB – you can even rip it out a machine safely, and with no hassle as it encrypts itself automatically. I’m very happy with the device and the security it PROvides. Furthermore, the PROspect of using these devices to liveboot or as a data backup is tempting – we have worked with a few IT companies who keep system backups on site – knowing that these devices can be hidden away yet remain safe is always a boost to any disaster recovery plan.”

Commenting on datAshur Personal USB flash drive “We were recommended iStorage by our IT Suppliers Millgate. After a brief phone call they understood how and why we needed encrypted devices and recommended the Datashur personal devices. We received them next day and they were easy to configure. Staff found the instructions and operation nice and easy, and were happy to know that they now had more freedom of the type of data they can carry with them and felt assured that the data was safe even in the event of losing the drive. From a management point of view having admin override to the device is great and was the main reason we went with iStorage.”

“Security have asked for more so they must be happy!…the end users are happy with the equipment PROvided and I have been discussing wider use with other areas of the business where web uploads are not possible.”

“These little things will change your life. We came across iStorage at the AccountEx event in May. We have had such a lot of positive feedback from clients over the last few months. They are amazing! A brilliant invention. The memory sticks give our clients the peace of mind we are compliant and being responsible with their data

A neat little drive. The square and industrial design is a matter of taste and certainly contrasts with other brands. Personally I like it. Of course, for a portable drive the real value is in it’s usability, and that’s where the diskG* shines! I used to have small, cheap 1TB drives from Samsung and Toshiba and I loved them – silent, no fuss and really small. But a burglary at home, where laptops and all external data backups disappeared, drove home the need for encryption. Although I don’t store anything that I wouldn’t share with my friends, I did have quite a lot of documents on those drives though which would potentially make things really easy for an identity thief – Identity theft being a problem not exactly unheard of these days! And with each person currently having to manage up to a 150 user ID-password combinations, where do you keep track of all of them…? Split between paper-based and electronic locations …Someone putting his mind to finding sensitive information and taking the time to browse through the folders on my drives and the laptops could also have found enough hints and information to greatly simplify his attempts at breaking into some of my user accounts, in particular in combination with all the paperwork that was stolen at the same time. Now, it might just be paranoia and possibly the thieves were just after the hardware to sell on. But you never know who then buys the drives and for what purpose. Since then, I have bought a series of portable drives with hardware encryption, to be more at ease next time they get stolen. The diskG* beats them all by lengths in terms of usability. It’s actually smaller than most of the other drives with encryption, it comes with an integrated USB cable and the keypad is great. It’s a simple plug&play drive, exactly like any unencrypted portable drive should be. The only difference is that you’ll have to type in a password on the keypad before the drive is automatically mounted. None of the other encrypted drives I’ve tried keeps that simple plug&play use: Although they state they have hardware encryption, those drives mostly mount a normal partition + a virtual CD drive with an encryption software. You first need to wait for both drives to be accessible and then launch the encryption software (which, in some cases, also needs to be configured at first use), wait until it loads and then enter your password. The virtual drive stays there and cannot be removed. The encryption software requiring low-level system access, there have also been a few clashes with my antivirus software (resulting in corrupted files). Fiddly ..and sometimes very lengthy until you finally have access to your data. Not so with the diskG*. It’s a simple and fast operation and there is barely a delay, compared to non-encrypted plug&play drives. Transfer rates are comparable to unencrypted USB 2 drives, although probably very slightly slower for smaller copy jobs. Speed tends to even out over bigger jobs of tens of Gbs. Security wise, I have to rely on expert opinions. But from what I’ve read, it seems the diskG* is also safer than most other drives. Although the same encryption standard is used by most manufacturers, its architecture makes it more tamper-proof in case someone extracts the drive from the casing and also because it doesn’t install software on your PC, a potential entry point for hackers. A very happy customer. Despite the fact that the diskG* is more expensive than the other models, I have since bought a second unit. If I had to ask for one improvement, it would be the addition of a USB 3 port for faster transfer.

This is a 5*+ award (out of a possible 5) – it is just brilliant idea. Lovely rugged rubber around it feels quality. Keypad and access very easy and works perfectly. Absolutely lovely to know that ones backup data is protected. A truly brilliant product. I have struggled with encryption for years, software encryption is a real pain. This keyboard device is just brilliantly simple yet so secure. A must for those wishing to keep their data safe on a mobile basis.

As promised, securely packed in its travel pouch, nestling in a display box within a sturdy cardboard sleeve. Certainly, the specifications are impressive – offering real-time 256-bit AES hardware encryption – but how does it stack up in practice? Is there a trade-off between security and functionality? The device, housed in a smart soft-feel black enclosure, looks very Professional. The large, clear keyboard has a positive “click” action and one immediately wants to explore and find out what is special about it. (Perhaps that’s not good for a security device – maybe it should look scruffy and unloved? It might then be ignored by a potential thief!) The USB cable is neatly enclosed in the side of the unit so I plugged it into my Dell 1750 laptop running 64-bit Windows 7, the drive powered up and a red led illuminated. Now what? For once in my life I had to read the Quick Start Guide! As soon as I entered the default PIN number, the LED turned green and I was able to access the drive, where I found a concise and well-written User’s Manual. My first task was to change the default PIN number for the Administrator and create a new User for myself. This was perfectly straightforward and took only a few moments. I noted that it is possible to set up ten separate Users for collaborative use, each with their own 6-16 digit PIN. I’m not sure that I would allow a number of people to hold their own data on “my” disk but I can see that this feature would be useful to collate e.g. project data or to enable someone to act as a carrier pigeon, securely transporting large volumes of data without being able to read it in transit. The diskG* could also be loaded with portable applications which would enable the user to process on any available machine. The large capacity of the diskG* means that it can hold reference material as well as working documents – music and pictures. Just a word of warning, the User Manual does recommend that you log-off from diskG* before the host PC is hibernated. As a Security Consultant, moving around the country on assignments, I must be able to back up and, if necessary, recover my data whenever and wherever I am. My work is of a confidential nature and there is no way I can risk it falling into the wrong hands – or being unreadable when I really need it. Also, I have no wish to carry more luggage than I need. The diskG* fits the bill admirably. My only criticism is that diskG* has not yet been approved to carry documents with a UK Government protective marking which sometimes limits its use for me. So, how do I use diskG* in practice? Well, I take a full backup every week or so and lock it away securely. Every day, I synchronise my laptop and save the latest versions of my work to diskG*. With hardware encryption, the disk is fast, and these incremental backups do not take long to do. I also took advantage of the large capacity of diskG* to save an image of my operating system and reference material. Now, wherever I am, if my laptop disk crashes, I can replace it, restore from disk Genie, and I’m back in business with the minimum of pain. Alternatively, I can borrow a computer, attach the diskG* and carry on working, using the portable apps if I choose. Do I worry that diskG* might let me down? Well, nothing’s infallible but the 16-point omni-directional shock mounting system sure helps! And, if it goes missing, I know I can rely on the 256-bit AES hardware encryption.