Introduction

iStorage is a British company that launched in 2009 after the founder saw a market for encrypted storage, and we saw an example of this last year with the diskAshur M² family of encrypted portable storage that employed an M.2 SATA SSD for a balance of speed, affordability, and of course data privacy. The diskAshur M2 is in itself not a novel idea, with many such products from other companies also having been covered on TechPowerUp. However, they all had one thing in common: The storage was part of the device, and anyone needing multiple drives would have an expensive bill to pay. iStorage clearly agreed, and thus came about the new datAshur SD. Thanks go to iStorage for arranging a review sample for TechPowerUp.


The solution seems obvious enough—decouple the encrypted storage from the hardware decryption key itself. The keypad-based form factor is clearly successful in its own right, allowing end users to program an alphanumeric key of their choice that is stored on the device large enough to host the processor and a small power source. So if M.2 SSDs were not an option, why not try memory cards? This is what the "SD" in the datAshur SD does, with encrypted microSD cards providing the necessary storage solutions. This way, users are able to purchase the drives for decryption at a lower cost. Let's now see how this works out in practice courtesy a twin pack of the drives and a microSD card iStorage provided.

Packaging & Accessories

The datAshur SD is meant for those who want to use a single source of storage on multiple devices, each with an associated drive. It's quite niche an application no doubt, but I can already think of several IT managers who'd salivate at this prospect should the drives be cloneable for the encryption keys. As such, a twin pack is the minimum that makes logical sense for the datAshur SD, which is what we have here. It ships in a similarly designed cardboard box designed to the iStorage diskAshur M² we saw before, employing a predominantly blue color scheme. On the front is the company logo and product name, along with a render of the product and unique selling point. More information is provided on the back, which also confirms that the datAshur SD only works with iStorage encrypted microSD cards. Two security seals on either side keep the contents in place on their way to you.


Open the outer box on either end and you can now pull out the inner box that is another piece of thick cardboard with the two drives inside machined cutouts in a thick foam sheet. Each has the same warning about the use of microSD cards. Another cutout on the side holds two USB Type-C to Type-A adapters for when you don't have an available Type-C USB port on your PC, which is a clear indication that these are Type-C USB flash drives. Underneath this top layer is where we find relevant paperwork, including a multi-language quick start guide that walks you through the setup and use of the drive (online copy here). There is a more detailed user manual too, as well as another which goes over the supporting software program found here. The twin pack of the datAshur SD comes with a free license of this software program, further sweetening the deal over two single packs if you were so inclined. There is thus a card reminding you to register the device, with the license key and pin for the software on the other side of the card.