Comments on: Maxtor BlackArmor drive http://www.mckeay.net/2008/12/02/maxtor-blackarmor-drive/ The views of one man on security, privacy and anything else that catches his attention. The views expressed on this blog do not reflect the views of my employer or anyone other than myself. Thu, 02 Feb 2012 21:45:54 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v= By: Ken http://www.mckeay.net/2008/12/02/maxtor-blackarmor-drive/comment-page-1/#comment-5135 Ken Sun, 13 Sep 2009 17:52:27 +0000 http://www.mckeay.net/2008/12/02/maxtor-blackarmor-drive/#comment-5135 I don't understand someone buying a secure USB drive for use at work, and then report they can't use it because they need the Admin to do a one-time install of security software. Either you need security at work, and the admin will do what is required, or you do not (and you bought the wrong product). The point of the security drive is to render it secure against someone else physically getting acces to the drive or the drive and your laptop... Why use a device that is 'usually' secure, but at work it is insecure? I don’t understand someone buying a secure USB drive for use at work, and then report they can’t use it because they need the Admin to do a one-time install of security software. Either you need security at work, and the admin will do what is required, or you do not (and you bought the wrong product). The point of the security drive is to render it secure against someone else physically getting acces to the drive or the drive and your laptop… Why use a device that is ‘usually’ secure, but at work it is insecure?

]]> By: Martin http://www.mckeay.net/2008/12/02/maxtor-blackarmor-drive/comment-page-1/#comment-4433 Martin Wed, 01 Apr 2009 19:22:23 +0000 http://www.mckeay.net/2008/12/02/maxtor-blackarmor-drive/#comment-4433 I took a quick look at the Maxtor/Seagate site and it doesn't appear that they have support of Mac/Linux OS's, and may not be developing any. I'll ping one of my contacts at Seagate and see if I can find out anything more. Martin I took a quick look at the Maxtor/Seagate site and it doesn’t appear that they have support of Mac/Linux OS’s, and may not be developing any. I’ll ping one of my contacts at Seagate and see if I can find out anything more.

Martin

]]> By: colin http://www.mckeay.net/2008/12/02/maxtor-blackarmor-drive/comment-page-1/#comment-4432 colin Wed, 01 Apr 2009 19:15:41 +0000 http://www.mckeay.net/2008/12/02/maxtor-blackarmor-drive/#comment-4432 Having an issue installing it on a linux based netbook. Love the drive and he was not lying about that light. But anyone know of a way to start the maxtor black armor manager manually in order to input the password? Having an issue installing it on a linux based netbook. Love the drive and he was not lying about that light. But anyone know of a way to start the maxtor black armor manager manually in order to input the password?

]]> By: Alan http://www.mckeay.net/2008/12/02/maxtor-blackarmor-drive/comment-page-1/#comment-4427 Alan Wed, 01 Apr 2009 08:27:33 +0000 http://www.mckeay.net/2008/12/02/maxtor-blackarmor-drive/#comment-4427 I am also in the same situation as Jim. The drive requires me to install the software to unlock it but I do not have administrative rights. Anybody have any luck removing the security features? I am also in the same situation as Jim. The drive requires me to install the software to unlock it but I do not have administrative rights. Anybody have any luck removing the security features?

]]> By: Jim http://www.mckeay.net/2008/12/02/maxtor-blackarmor-drive/comment-page-1/#comment-4317 Jim Tue, 10 Mar 2009 05:31:01 +0000 http://www.mckeay.net/2008/12/02/maxtor-blackarmor-drive/#comment-4317 I just purchased the black armor drive and installed with little problem on my laptop. Move to my desktop without problem. However when I took it to work can not use it because I do not have administrator priveleges. Reading the Seagate forums I now find this is a known problem and there is nothing I can do except have the administrator install it on EVERY computer I want to use it on at work. Makes it pretty worthless at work which is where I needed it. Going to try some low level foatting tomorrow and see if I can remove the security partition so at least I can have another storage Sri e even if it isn't secure I just purchased the black armor drive and installed with little problem on my laptop. Move to my desktop without problem. However when I took it to work can not use it because I do not have administrator priveleges. Reading the Seagate forums I now find this is a known problem and there is nothing I can do except have the administrator install it on EVERY computer I want to use it on at work. Makes it pretty worthless at work which is where I needed it. Going to try some low level foatting tomorrow and see if I can remove the security partition so at least I can have another storage Sri e even if it isn’t secure

]]> By: Mario http://www.mckeay.net/2008/12/02/maxtor-blackarmor-drive/comment-page-1/#comment-4243 Mario Thu, 19 Feb 2009 19:57:55 +0000 http://www.mckeay.net/2008/12/02/maxtor-blackarmor-drive/#comment-4243 There are about 100 billion billion billion billion billion different ways of generating a 20-character password constructed from a 224 extended ASCII data set. This is equivalent to a password strength of 156 bits. Five hundred brute-force cracking attempts per second would take an average of over three billion billion billion billion years to crack the password. There are about 100 billion billion billion billion billion different ways of generating a 20-character password constructed from a 224 extended ASCII data set. This is equivalent to a password strength of 156 bits. Five hundred brute-force cracking attempts per second would take an average of over three billion billion billion billion years to crack the password.

]]> By: Mike http://www.mckeay.net/2008/12/02/maxtor-blackarmor-drive/comment-page-1/#comment-4191 Mike Fri, 06 Feb 2009 03:19:15 +0000 http://www.mckeay.net/2008/12/02/maxtor-blackarmor-drive/#comment-4191 This drive did not require the installation of any software that I can remember. It does have software on it to provide automatic backup and file syncing capabilities but this is optional. Additionally, I have seen several posts online that this drive will not function with Windows Server 2003, which I can say now is not true - I've already used it on Win2k3 machines and it works fine. With that said, I had a slight panic when on the way home I thought 'Well this encryption is great, but what stops someone from just brute-forcing my pass phrase?' Then I remembered.... Every character I enter is one a printable ascii character, of which, with extended ASCII, there are about 224 options. So even with a modest, twenty character pass phrase there roughly one billion billion billion billion billion possibilities. Which, at 500 tries a second, would still take an average of over three years to crack. That said, I still wish it had an 'erase after X successive failures' feature, but I guess I can rest more easily (for now) in the math. This drive did not require the installation of any software that I can remember. It does have software on it to provide automatic backup and file syncing capabilities but this is optional. Additionally, I have seen several posts online that this drive will not function with Windows Server 2003, which I can say now is not true – I’ve already used it on Win2k3 machines and it works fine. With that said, I had a slight panic when on the way home I thought ‘Well this encryption is great, but what stops someone from just brute-forcing my pass phrase?’ Then I remembered….

Every character I enter is one a printable ascii character, of which, with extended ASCII, there are about 224 options. So even with a modest, twenty character pass phrase there roughly

one billion billion billion billion billion possibilities.

Which, at 500 tries a second, would still take an average of over three years to crack.

That said, I still wish it had an ‘erase after X successive failures’ feature, but I guess I can rest more easily (for now) in the math.

]]> By: Gary http://www.mckeay.net/2008/12/02/maxtor-blackarmor-drive/comment-page-1/#comment-4130 Gary Sun, 25 Jan 2009 01:44:21 +0000 http://www.mckeay.net/2008/12/02/maxtor-blackarmor-drive/#comment-4130 Does this drive need to install software on the host system in order to function? If so, it won't work in the increasing number of business and government offices that limit software installs to those with a Windows Admin account. Unfortunately the packaging is ambiguous on that question, and so is the above review. Not to mention the Maxtor web site and the many other online reviews and news articles out there. I had a BlackArmor in my hand today but didn't want to buy it and be the guinea pig. Does this drive need to install software on the host system in order to function?

If so, it won’t work in the increasing number of business and government offices that limit software installs to those with a Windows Admin account.

Unfortunately the packaging is ambiguous on that question, and so is the above review. Not to mention the Maxtor web site and the many other online reviews and news articles out there.

I had a BlackArmor in my hand today but didn’t want to buy it and be the guinea pig.

]]> By: Mike http://www.mckeay.net/2008/12/02/maxtor-blackarmor-drive/comment-page-1/#comment-3940 Mike Sun, 07 Dec 2008 07:53:49 +0000 http://www.mckeay.net/2008/12/02/maxtor-blackarmor-drive/#comment-3940 Thanks for putting this up - I've been thinking of getting a backup for my home network going for a while but most of the products I see on the market end up leaving me in dismay, with a large amount of catch words and a small amount of actual hardware seen for the experience. This is definitely something for me to follow up on, and the fact it uses AES-128 to encrypt is fantastic... I'm one of those paranoids too who likes to have everything as secure as I can make it. (probably a good thing for someone hoping to work his way into network security one day) :-) On another note...stumbled across your site a few months ago, and keep blogging! It's awesome! -Mike Thanks for putting this up – I’ve been thinking of getting a backup for my home network going for a while but most of the products I see on the market end up leaving me in dismay, with a large amount of catch words and a small amount of actual hardware seen for the experience. This is definitely something for me to follow up on, and the fact it uses AES-128 to encrypt is fantastic… I’m one of those paranoids too who likes to have everything as secure as I can make it. (probably a good thing for someone hoping to work his way into network security one day) :-) On another note…stumbled across your site a few months ago, and keep blogging! It’s awesome!

-Mike

]]>