Introduction

We have been reviewing hard drive enclosures for about 3 years now, so we have a good say in what's good and what's bad. If you have followed us from the beginning, then you know what i mean. There were some great hard drive enclosures and well, there we some that are not. First of all i would like to thank CRU for providing us with this hard drive enclosure system, DataPort SecureDock. DataPort SecureDock is an extenal enclosure which has eSATA/USB2.0 connections to aid in your every day needs. What is so special about this unit? Well i am glad you asked. DataPort SecureDock is highly secured and very durable unit which allows safe storage of your information and also a CE compliant. If you do not know about CE compliance, you can check out wiki or click go here for explanation. Let us take a closer look at CRU DataPort SecureDock and see what other useful things it has to offer.

About the Product

Following information is taken from the CRU website.

DataPort® SecureDock™ Desktop Hard Drive Enclosure with Hot-Swap Encrypted Drives AES Data Encryption Built-In USB 2.0 and eSATA Interface Removable DataPort 10 Secure Drive Carrier

Use for Desktop Storage, Backup and Archiving   Easy to Use Security Key - No PINs or Passwords   Hand-held Security Key Programmer Available Specifications USB 2.0 and eSATA Host Interface USB cable, eSATA cable and power supply included Rugged Metal Design For Ultimate Data Protection Patented Temperature Controlled Cooling System regulates fan speed LEDs show Power, Drive activity and Security Key status High durability connectors rated for over 30,000 insertions Audible fan failure alarm Ultra-quiet Vapo Bearing MagLev (Magnetic Levitation System) cooling fan Supports DataPort 10 Secure and DataPort 10 (non-encrypted) SATA hard drive carriers Transfers data at the fastest rates supported by USB 2.0 & eSATA interfaces: USB 2.0 = up to 480Mb/sec eSATA = up to 3Gb/sec 1-Year Warranty CE, RoHS Design Dimensions* 6.8 W x 11.1 L x 2.4 H (inch) 172 W x 282 L x 61 H (mm) * Dimensions are for reference only

Now that we got basic information out of the way, lets take a closer look at CRU DataPort SecureDock.

Closer look

Box Front		CRU logo

DataPort comes in a regular box. There isn't any eye candy on the shipping box of this unit and being honest, it is very boring. Considering this unit could be used in the military situations, it really doesn't need to attract eyes. Just a small logo and a small description of what's inside on the top left side of the box.

Opened box		Out of the box

Opening the box was rather easy. Just a flop and the whole contents of the package was exposed. The DataPort SecureDock comes with the following accessories: Power supply, USB cable, eSATA cable, Internal eSATA to PCI adapter, 3 Key tokens and a backup software cd.

CRU DataPort SecureDock		Zoomed in

DataPort SecureDock is rather heavy unit. This is due to the fact that its base is made out of the thick aluminum. CRU designed DataPort SecureDock out of aluminum to keep keep the internal parts as cool as possible. A whole unit is like one giant heat sink. The front end of the DataPort SecureDock is made out of the thick and durable plastic. So its pretty hard to break this unit unless something goes wrong with the internal components.

Side of the DataPort SecureDock		Back of the DataPort SecureDock

On the both sides of the DataPort SecureDock CRU made a stylish grooves. I have not found a pure purpose of them but they add a little edge to the enclosure. On the back of the DataPort SecureDock there are power connector, eSATA connector and USB 2.0 connector. There is also a power switch but it has been disabled. Here is what the manufacturer had to say about this switch being disabled.

Explanation: DataPort removable drive enclosures feature “Powered Key Locks” which protect the drive (and data) from accidental removal during operation.  Due to this protective feature, the power switch on the back of the Secure Dock enclosure had to be disabled, so a user couldn't’t accidentally over-ride the DataPort’s powered key-lock and turn off the drive during a read/write procedure.

(The text below will be added to the Operations Manual)

Note: The power switch on the back of the DataPort Secure Dock has been disabled to prevent accidental power cycles.  In order to minimize risk of data loss the DataPort SecureDock can only be powered on and off with the key lock.

Bottom of the DataPort 10		Rubber feet

On the bottom of the unit there is a slit opening for the heat escape. One the each corner of the unit there is a rubber foot to prevent the DataPort SecureDock from sliding.

Hard Drive tray		Security token connector

The hard drive tray is also made from a hard plastic. This is very impressive considering most enclosures out there are not as rugged. In order to even power on the device, you must ensure that the tray lock is locked other vise you will not be able to operate the DataPort SecureDock. There are some leds on the front as well as the usb token slot. The top led show the operation state of the unit and the bottom show the activity and usb token status. You cannot power the unit until the usb token is inserted in to the front slot. If you ask me, that's alot of precautions.

Tray is out		Back plane

Removing the hard drive tray ws pretty easy. Just a use of the release/lock and the drive came right out. Looking inside of the shaft i discovered a 60mm fan and a back plane board for sata connection. So what makes this unit so important and impressive, you may ask. DataPort SecureDock uses a government approved encryption algorithms to encrypt the data as its been written to the hard drive. AES 128 Cryptographic Engine is NIST & CSE validated (FIPS PUB 197). Legally we cannot show you more of DataPort SecureDock back plane, for more information you could contact CRU directly.

Heavy aluminum		Back plane of the tray

As mentioned earlier, the whole unit is a giant heat sink. Everywhere we looked we found thick aluminum. I suppose this helps with cooling of the hard drive and the actual unit itself. On the back of the hard drive tray we found a daughter board which connects the tray to the back plane.

Opened tray		Hitachi DeskStar

So what is actually inside of the tray? CRU is included a 500 Gb hard drive with this unit. Very handy so you don't have to buy a hard drive to use with DataPort 10. A price tag on this unit with hard drive is about 239$.

Outside capacitor?		3 Security tokens

We were wondering what this is, an outside capacitor? It is actually a temperature sensor. heh. CRU DataPort SecureDock comes with 3 usb based tokens. The are all the same so if you lose one, you have 2 more that you can user. Remember you will not be able to start DataPort SecureDock without one of these usb security tokens.

Stylish tokens		Ready to rock

CRU tokens are pretty stylish and come with a dust cap. This pretty much conclude pictionary of the CRU DataPort SecureDock. Let us take a look at some of the testing data.

Testing

We have put DataPort SecureDock trough our standard HD Tach testing. We have tested DataPort SecureDock with USB 2.0 and eSATA and the results as follow.

First test we ran was on USB 2.0. The 8 Mb vs 32 Mb benchmark showed us that the average read speed was 33.5 MB/s. This is pretty much expected for USB 2.0 connection.

Esata 8 Mb vs 32 Mb

Running the same 8 Mb vs 32 Mb benchmark with eSATA connection we have gotten average read speeds of 83.7 MB/s. Much faster than USB 2.0 connection. By running trough eSATA channel it is as fast as running a hard drive internally. DataPort SecureDock doesn't degrade the performance of read and write speed while operating. Keep in mind that the data is being constantly encrypted as its been written to the hard drive.

Conclusion

DataPort SecureDock shows a true side of affordable military grade data protection to average consumers. DataPort SecureDock offers easy and secure way to store your data. With three usb security tokens you don't have to worry about some one reading your files or unauthorized access of DataPort SecureDock. All this is backed up by six government regulations and AES 128 Cryptographic Engine. The only concern is the power switch on the back which has been disabled to prevent accidental power off of the unit. My advise would be to remove this switch before placing DataPort SecureDock in to the mass production. By being such rugged unit you data really has nothing to worry about. Highly recommended unit. 9/10!

Some pros we found:

Secure data store and transfer

Identity theft protection

Rugged unit

Government approved encryption

Some cons we found:

Power switch on the back is disabled