Best Password Protected Flash Drives 2023: to secure your data

Traditional USB flash drives may not be the most secure option for safeguarding sensitive data. Without a password, almost anyone with a laptop or smartphone that has “On-The-Go” (OTG) functionality could potentially get to the information inside. The best Password protected flash drives are a strong way to protect against this risk.

There are two main kinds of password-protected flash drives that you can choose from. Some use a digital key to enter the PIN or password, while others have a physical keypad. This two-pronged approach gives you more security and peace of mind when it comes to protecting your data. Below we have mentioned the best password protected flash drives.

What to Look for in a Password Protected Flash Drive?

🔒 Encryption: When selecting a password-protected flash drive, prioritize encryption, especially hardware encryption like AES 256-bit. This ensures your data remains secure even if the drive falls into the wrong hands.

🔑 Protected by a Password: Opt for a flash drive that allows you to set a secure password. Ensure the password is robust and changeable, adding an extra layer of security to your data.

⏲️ Auto-Lock: Look for a flash drive with the handy feature of auto-lock. It automatically locks itself if unused or disconnected from the computer for a set period, requiring password reentry for access.

🚫 Brute Force Protection: Some flash drives offer “brute force protection,” limiting incorrect password attempts. After a certain number of failures, the drive may lock itself or delete data to thwart unauthorized access.

🤚 Biometric Authentication: Consider a flash drive with biometric authentication, like a fingerprint scanner, for added security. This ensures that only authorized individuals can access your data.

Best Password Protected Flash Drives Comparison Table

The table below compares the best password-protected flash drives based on their security features, storage capacities, compatibility, and read/write speeds. It gives users a short guide to the best ways to keep their sensitive data safe while storing and accessing their data quickly and reliably.

Lexar JumpDrive Fingerprint F35

After biometric security became the norm for smartphones, no one really wants to use passwords anymore. It makes sense that flash drives would have fingerprint-locking technology. The Lexar JumpDrive F35 USB drive, which now has fingerprint authentication, is worth a look for people who use thumb drives as a standard way to share data with coworkers. Still, this is one of the best Password Protected Flash Drives you can buy right now.

The JumpDrive F35 can store up to 10 fingerprint IDs, so you can add different coworkers to the list of authorized users. Once all users have signed up with Lexar’s software that only works on Windows, the drive will no longer need the software to authenticate users. To see what’s on the drive, you just have to put your finger on the F35’s glass surface. Lexar says it can read fingerprints in less than a second, which is pretty fast for these days.

Samsung T7 Touch SSD

The Samsung T7 Touch is the fourth external solid-state drive that the company has made. Except for the Thunderbolt 3-powered X5, which has an NVMe SSD, the other generations have mSATA SSDs, which slow down performance. Now, the newest T7 comes with an NVMe SSD and a 10Gbps USB-C port so that Samsung’s 92-layer TLC V-NAND can be used to its full potential.

Samsung says that the T7’s top transfer speed is 1050MB/s, which is faster than the T5’s top speed of 540MB/s. The Samsung T7 Touch is also different from its siblings because it has a capacitive fingerprint reader built in. It is also compatible with PC, Mac, and Android. To access protected data on the T7, you will need to install software on each device separately. Overall, this is one of the best Password Protected Flash Drives you can buy right now.

Apricorn Aegis Secure Key 3NXC

It’s not new for flash drives to have a keypad on board for authentication, but Apricorn is serious about getting this right. Its Aegis Secure Key 3NXC USB-C flash drive is all about safety. 256-bit AES XTS encryption with the XTS block cipher mode is used to protect everything on the drive, from the data on it to the encryption keys. Under the hood, the drive handles authentications on battery power, so the correct key sequence has to be entered before the drive will even show up as active hardware.

Its built-in security makes it so that the host computer can’t talk to the drive until the PIN is physically entered. So, this makes it harder for people to spy on you. There is no password that keyloggers can pick up, and brute-force attacks on the drive won’t work either. If you make ten wrong guesses, the cipher will be erased and the data will be lost. Still, this is one of the best Password Protected Flash Drives you can buy right now.

SanDisk G-Drive ArmorLock SSD

For a long time, the best way to keep content on an external drive safe was to use passwords and different data encryption protocols. With the SanDisk G-Drive ArmorLock SSD, we can now use Apple’s strong Face ID and Touch ID to authenticate users in a more elegant way. Inside the ArmorLock is a 2TB NVMe SSD with a USB 3.2 Gen 22 interface and a transfer rate of up to 1GB/s.

Unlike other direct-attached storage, the user must first register the ArmorLock on their iPhone, iPad, or Mac before installing the drive. Then, use the SSD’s iOS app to scan the QR code on the back of the drive. If you only have a Mac, enter the 8-digit code that is next to the QR code. After that, the iOS app will use Bluetooth LE to make a secure connection and do a digital handshake. For now, this is one of the best Password Protected Flash Drives you can buy right now.

Kingston IronKey Vault Privacy 80 SSD

IronKey from Kingston has been known as a reliable, trustworthy brand of USB drives with enterprise-grade hardware encryption. Its software lets administrators set strict security policies to keep sensitive data from getting into the wrong hands if a user doesn’t follow the rules. Overall, this is one of the best Password Protected Flash Drives you can buy right now.

Its new IronKey Vault Privacy 80 raises the bar even more with a color touch-screen interface and onboard user authentication that works with any operating system. This is by far the best way to protect against all kinds of keylogger malware, since users will never have to enter passwords on the PC.

How to Choose the Right Password Protected Flash Drive for You?

To keep your data safe, it’s important to choose the right flash drive (also called a USB drive or thumb drive) with a password. Here are some steps that will help you make a good choice:

📊 Figure out how much space you need: Think about how much information you need to keep. Flash drives have different storage sizes, usually from 8GB to 2TB or more. Choose a size that fits your needs without costing you too much for too much storage.

🛡️ Features for safety: Look for flash drives that can be locked with a password and have hardware encryption. Hardware encryption makes sure that your data is encrypted on the device itself. This makes it safer than software-based encryption.

🔌 Getting along: Make sure that your devices can work with the flash drive. Check to see if your USB port (USB-A, USB-C, or both) and operating system (Windows, macOS, or Linux) are compatible.

🔑 Protecting with a password: Pick a flash drive that has a strong password. For extra security, some drives can be locked with a PIN or a fingerprint that is read by the hardware. Don’t use passwords that are easy to figure out, and change them often.

⚡ Speed of Data Transfer: Think about how fast data moves. Drives with USB 3.0 or higher are faster than those with USB 2.0. Moving large files can save you time if you can move them at a faster rate.

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