If you frequently play games on modern systems, then you’ll likely know just how easy it is to fill up your console’s storage, making it impossible to install new games until you clear out some of the games you might still need.
External storage solutions are becoming more and more common among gamers and the general public alike, but they’re not all created equal, and many of them just aren’t up to snuff.
That’s where a device like iStorage’s diskAshur Pro 3 comes in. Equipped with state-of-the-art security features to ensure that you don’t lose any of your all-important data, this drive is aiming to be the last word in secure storage.
You might wonder why, as a gamer, you’d need so much security to protect your games, but it might not just be software or save data you want to keep on your drive, so why not grab that extra peace of mind?
Let’s take a look at the iStorage diskAshur Pro 3 in all its glory: what it is, what it does, and what kind of features it can offer you, not only as someone who loves games but also as someone who loves secure data.
iStorage diskAshur Pro 3: an introduction
First, let’s briefly outline exactly what the iStorage diskAshur Pro 3 is.
The drive’s official website describes it as “the ultimate choice for ensuring top-of-the-line data security”, and that’s pretty much what it is in a nutshell; a storage solution that keeps your data safe.
Many storage drives claim to be able to protect your data from prying eyes or thieves, but it’s hard to imagine a drive that can do it with quite as much efficacy as the diskAshur Pro 3.
iStorage is right to describe its drive as “a state-of-the-art portable HDD/SSD that sets a new benchmark in effortless data security”, because the watchword here is “safety”, as the range of certificates and standards displayed by the drive will attest to.
In short, then, here’s what the diskAshur Pro 3 is: a speedy storage drive that will protect whatever data you need it to protect and that comes complete with a range of failsafes to ensure that if your drive does end up in the wrong hands, your information won’t be compromised.
iStorage diskAshur Pro 3: the specifications
So now you know what exactly this drive is, you’re probably wondering what kind of specs you can look forward to if you pick it up, right?
Well, although the drive is impressive in terms of its security, that doesn’t mean that the folks at iStorage have skimped on other specs; it’s still a pretty speedy drive, so you can expect solid read and write speeds.
According to the drive’s product listing, it’s capable of read and write speeds of up to 450MB/s, although of course, you’ll want to pick up the SSD variant if you want the fastest possible transfer rates.
That’s another thing that’s worth mentioning; the diskAshur Pro 3 comes as either an HDD or an SSD, and of course, the HDD will set you back much less, but it’ll be slower as a result.
This is a seriously heavy-duty drive, so it starts at capacities of around 500GB, running all the way up to a staggering 16TB.
Of course, you might not need quite so much storage space, but if you’re part of a business or enterprise that stores a massive amount of data, it’s nice to know that you have that option if you decide you need it.
The diskAshur Pro 3 connects to computers or other devices via USB cable, and you’ll get both a Type-C to Type-C and Type-C to Type-A cable in the box, so you’ll be able to connect it to a wide range of devices.
In fact, iStorage itself says that the drive “will work on any device with a USB port”, and hey – that includes your gaming consoles if you’re so inclined!
The drive is also OS-independent, so it doesn’t matter what operating system your machine is running. Whether you’re on Windows, Linux, macOS, or any other operating system (including mobile ecosystems!), you’ll be able to use this drive to store your data.
iStorage diskAshur Pro 3: the features
Specs are all well and good, but what really matters for a drive like this is what kind of features it offers, especially when it comes to security protocols.
With that in mind, let’s have a look at some of the features the iStorage diskAshur Pro 3 will offer if you decide to use it as your everyday storage solution.
Physical keypad
If you’re an analogue sort of person (no judgement – we definitely are!), then you’ll be pleased to know this drive comes complete with a physical keypad that sits on the face of the drive itself.
All you need to do when you want to access your data is to input the PIN you’ve set into the keypad, and you’ll be away.
Once you’ve entered the PIN, your data will be accessible, and removing the drive from whatever machine to which you’ve connected it will immediately encrypt your data again, making it unviewable for prying eyes.
The keypad also comes with a backlight to ensure that you can see the keys you’re pressing in the dark, but this keypad’s backlight can be disabled as well so that people can’t see over your shoulder.
If you’re worried about that trick in the movies where safecrackers can see which keys on a keypad have been pressed in the past, you needn’t be; the keys are coated in a layer of epoxy resin that prevents wear and hides key usage.
No preset user PIN
You might be worrying that a hacker or nefarious actor could simply gain access to your diskAshur Pro 3 by inputting the default PIN, but you’ll be happy to know that no such thing exists.
The drive doesn’t come with a preset PIN; you’ll need to set one when you set up your diskAshur Pro 3, so nobody could possibly guess at the PIN based on pre-existing knowledge of this range.
Three different PIN presets
On the diskAshur Pro 3, you can set three different PIN presets: an Admin PIN, a User PIN, and a One-Time Recovery PIN.
As you’ve probably surmised, all three of these different kinds of PINs serve a different function. The Admin PIN is your master access code; you’ll need it to open up the drive and access your data.
The User PIN is perfect if you intend to give this drive to someone else for safekeeping or to access data on a temporary basis.
In essence, you can set this PIN for other users besides yourself, and it’ll allow them to access whatever data is inside the drive. However, if they enter the PIN incorrectly ten times, then the PIN will be deleted and they will lose access.
Similarly, entering the Admin PIN ten times incorrectly will cause all data on the drive to be deleted permanently, with no way to recover it. You’d better make sure you keep that PIN to hand!
You can also set a One-Time Recovery PIN to gain access to your data if you somehow lose your other codes, so you’ll have that extra peace of mind if you do happen to forget.
Brute force hacking protection
There’s nothing worse than thinking a hacker can just gain access to your drive by forcing it open with guesswork or blunt techniques, but that’s not going to happen with the diskAshur Pro 3.
The aforementioned three-PIN structure provides protection against brute force hacking; if a hacker enters PINs incorrectly ten consecutive times, then they’ll be locked out of the drive or data will be deleted depending on which stage they’ve reached.
Of course, when you’re a gamer and you’re using your drive to store games and save data, that’s not quite as important as a government official protecting state secrets, but your saves are still precious!
If, for instance, you have hundreds of hours in a particular game and you’re proud of what you’ve built up, it would be a real shame to lose that data to malicious actors, and believe it or not, some people would hack your data just to see what emotional effect it has on you.
That’s why the brute force hacking protection inherent in the diskAshur Pro 3 is so reassuring.
FIPS validation (pending at time of writing)
iStorage says that its diskAshur Pro 3 is FIPS 140-3 Level 3 validated and has passed CAVP testing, which should give you some additional peace of mind.
The former is a cryptographic standard that ensures everything bearing that validation has reached a certain level of quality encryption, while the second refers to testing for devices that have been FIPS-approved.
If you’re not across the technical jargon, don’t worry; all you need to know is that the diskAshur Pro 3 has reached a level of cryptographic excellence that has won it FIPS validation, which, in a nutshell, further means that your data is safe on this drive.
Tamper-proof and tamper-evident design
In the first instance, the diskAshur Pro 3’s components are “enveloped in a layer of highly durable epoxy resin”, as iStorage itself says, which makes components “virtually impossible to remove” without causing irreparable damage.
The drive is also designed in such a way that accessing its internal components is impossible without causing physical damage, which would be immediately evident. You can’t simply unscrew this drive and gain access to the electronic components within.
In summary, then, the drive itself is not only very difficult to retrieve components from, but it’s also difficult to physically damage as well thanks to the epoxy resin contained within, so you can rest assured that no hacker will gain access to your drive by simply smashing it or causing it damage.
Three different encryption modes
You can choose between three different encryption protocols on the diskAshur Pro 3: AES-XTS 256-bit is the drive’s default mode, but you can also select AES-ECB 256-bit or AES-CBC 256-bit if you prefer.
Of course, you needn’t tamper with this element of the drive if you don’t want to, and if you’re not sure what these terms mean, we’d definitely recommend leaving well alone. AES-XTS 256-bit encryption should be perfectly fine for the vast majority of users’ needs.
However, it’s nice to know that should you choose to, you can switch between three different encryption modes based on what you require.
Direct boot
If you want to, you can install operating systems on the diskAshur Pro 3 and boot directly from the drive, thus bypassing the need for an external machine.
iStorage says that you can install whatever OS you like on the diskAshur Pro 3 as well, so you don’t need to worry if you’re a Windows, macOS, or Linux user; just as the drive is compatible with any OS in terms of connection, any OS can also be installed on it!
Auto-lock feature
The diskAshur Pro 3 comes complete with an “unattended auto-lock” feature, so if you haven’t been using it for a while, it’ll automatically lock itself.
You can set this feature as and when you need it, so if you’d prefer your data remain accessible until you manually lock the drive, that’s also fine, of course.
Read-only mode
Would you prefer to set up your diskAshur Pro 3 so that nobody, not even you, can rewrite data on it?
Well, thankfully, the drive comes complete with a read-only mode that you can enable if you prefer, ensuring that it’s “essentially…impossible” to modify the drive’s data, according to iStorage.
Carry case
This is a fun little extra rather than a core feature, but we thought we’d highlight it anyway.
The diskAshur Pro 3 comes with a carrying case as well as all the nifty features outlined above, so you’ll have a snazzy little pouch to keep it in when you’re transporting it around. Not too shabby, eh?
