How important is notebook encryption to you?

[Rob Williams]

Seagate should be releasing some new drives shortly (at least I believe so) for notebooks that automatically encrypt the data so that it will be kept safe should your notebook or the drive be stolen. Question I ask is... how important is this kind of security with you guys? Personally, I'd love knowing that my data is safe... regardless of how menial it is.

I am unsure of the SRP of the drives, or even the densities, but is this a technology you'd pay extra for? Personally, I would as long as it didn't hurt performance... but that's something I'll find out when I get my sample in. I just hope they won't retail for a far higher price than other drives. If they are, then they will be catered only to businessmen and larger cooperations. You know.. the ones that get a laptop stolen every other day?

[Greg King]

I am with you Rob. This is something that I would love to have, but I don't know how much extra I would be willing to pay. If someone was dedicated, even this encryption -could- be broken but it's highly doubtful and certainly a lot more intimidating to a thief if they have to work for the information. I could imagine corporations jumping all over this. I would love to see our government pick this technology up since they have been somewhat "loose" in the past with notebook security.

[JacKz5o]

I think notebook security is pretty important. I remember one of my teachers saying she had her notebook stolen and there were all kinds of tests and exam answers on it..

And yes, just like HD-DVD and BluRay. The encryption will eventually be cracked

[Rob Williams]

Originally Posted by JacKz5o

And yes, just like HD-DVD and BluRay. The encryption will eventually be cracked

This hard drive encryption will not be cracked anytime soon, if ever. In the odd occurrence that it does happen, it would likely be accomplished with a super computer, not something in your basement. I am not familiar with Seagates encryption schemes (I didn't read the docs) but it differs from the techniques Blu-Ray and HD-DVD use. Those hi-def formats have a fault... the data is readily available on the disc. It's just not accessable without the encryption key, but with a lot of research/hacking into the other files, breaking the code can be accomplished.

These hard drives however, the data will be -completely- encrypted, unable to be seen without a proper key or password, or whatever method they choose. Like AES256 encryption, it's basically uncrackable. I assume there is a secondary chip on the disc that communicates with the hard drive and assures that the proper key is there. If this chip is broken off, then the data would likely be lost forever.

I could be proved wrong, but I don't think I'll see that happen for a long, long while.