High level encryption is a trusted method of securing and protecting important files and documents. While there are different software and encryption techniques, these methods rely on the user’s action of remembering to encrypt and decrypt files. Encrypted files also take longer to process, a noticeable slowdown in performance may be observed when working with large encrypted files.
A hard drive with encrypted files and documents, is only safe for as long as its encryption is not brute-force attacked and broken. With the hard drive of encrypted files in the hands of a capable and dedicated hacker, breaking encryption is always just a matter of time. The security conscious and performance seeker would be pleased to know that a self encrypting and high speed drive is now available from Toshiba. It’s high security encryption and its programmable “self destruct’ feature aligns it with the Mission Impossible level of secrecy.
April 12, 2011. Toshiba has just released its first product line of high security and high performance self encrypting hard drives. This combines the high speed performance comparable to SCSI drives. And while high speed read-write performance is delivered, remember that heavy and strong AES encryption is happening realtime on the entire drive.
Toshiba MBF2600RE Hardware Specs 
The Toshiba MBF2600RE hard drive family comes in sizes of 300 / 450 / 600 GB.
All of these drives operate at high speeds of 10,025 RPM, and come with a SAS interface.
The drives come in 2.5 (laptop size) and 3.5 (desktop size) form factors.
The MBF2600RE hard drive family comes with smart firmware that can scale down performance when not in use. This allows up to 28% electricity savings.
Toshiba MBF2600RE Self Encryption and Self Destruct
Toshiba uses its SED (Self Encrypting Drive) technology for real-time encryption as the drive is used. A second and possibly the strongest layer of security is the drive’s capability to “self destruct”.
In the event that a laptop or desktop is stolen, the thieves are initially set off from discovering the drive’s contents because of its encryption. Even if the thieves are able to setup a strong network of computers solely for breaking the encryption, they will find the last and possibly strongest defense of the drive’s “self destruct system”.
The Toshiba MBF2600RE drives can be pre-programmed to operate only on specified computer hardware and conditions. In case that the hard drive is stolen and put on a different computer for decryption attacks, the SED and wipe technology of Toshiba will be triggered to either erase the drive’s contents, or simply ignore all read requests.
To prevent the leakage and compromise of sensitive data, the Toshiba MBF2600RE drives intimates its last protection option of a “self destruct” – securely wiping its previously protected contents. Even if the hackers are able to break the encryption, there will be no more trace of files to recover.
The technology of self encrypting hard drives is most suitable for users working on high-risk areas. Personal and business users can also benefit from this security as the hard drive themselves can be used on consumer desktops and laptops.
