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Amacom ezSecure 160GB review

Our Rating :
Price when reviewed : £116
inc VAT

An easy way to secure your files but expensive

Amacom’s ezSecure is a portable USB hard disk with a difference.

You can protect its contents with a customisable PIN of up to 12 digits, which you enter on a small touch-screen keypad. This is a convenient way to protect your data from prying eyes and casual thieves, especially as you don’t have to install any software on your PC. It can lock itself automatically when you unplug it from your PC, but there’s no option to do this after a set period of inactivity.

The ezSecure’s performance when transferring files was in line with what we’d expect from a portable USB external hard drive. Amacom has bundled its own Back2Normal backup software, although this was disappointingly sluggish and crashed frequently on our Vista laptop.

At 73p per gigabyte, the ezSecure is very expensive. It’s worth buying only if you need a hassle-free way to secure sensitive files. You could use free encryption software, such as www.truecrypt.org, but the ezSecure is far easier. Freecom’s 500GB Mobile Drive Classic costs just £87 including VAT from www.scan.co.uk and has three times the capacity, though, making it a far better choice for most users.

Basic Specifications

Rating ***

Storage

Hard disk Fujitsu MHZ2160BH
Capacity 160GB
Formatted capacity 149GB
Price per gigabyte £0.73
Disk size 2.5in
Interface USB Hi-Speed
Power connector USB from host
Spindle speed 5,400rpm
Cache 8MB
Seek time 12.0ms
Weight 236g
Size 24x80x131mm
Power consumption idle N/A
Power consumption active N/A

Buying Information

Backup software included Amacom Back2Normal 1064
Price £116
Warranty two years RTB
Supplier http://www.originestore.com
Details www.originestore.com