Kingston’s DataTraveler 4000 G2 Offers High Security, Great Performance

When securing portable data is essential, so too is using a drive that treats its stored bits as some of the most important on earth. We can use Kingston’s just-announced DataTraveler 4000 G2 as an example.

Kingston has long offered encrypted flash drives, and each new release seems to be more secure and higher performing than the last. The DT4000 G2 is no exception. At the forefront, the drive utilizes AES-256 encryption and stores the data via XTS mode, and as a further boost to its credibility, the drive carries FIPS 140-2 Security Level 3 certification.

There’s more to the DT4000 G2’s high security than fancy algorithms, though. For example, it has a tamper-evident seal and can respond to attempts at physically bypassing the security. It also has an optional read-only mode, which is ideal for when you need the data on the drive, but are unwilling to compromise its integrity by allowing the OS to write back to it. Lastly, if someone tries to break through to the data the old-fashioned way, it’ll automatically be purged after ten incorrect password attempts.

Like the original DT4000, this G2 version includes a “Management-Ready” version that supports Blockmaster’s SafeConsole management tool. Ultimately, this gives IT admins the ability to tweak the requirements of the drives as needed, even if it’s remote.

Despite the complex security at play with the DT4000 G2, performance remains quite good. Though, one thing to bear in mind is that the bigger the drive, the better the performance. The biggest offering, 64GB, reads at 250MB/s and writes at 85MB/s, whereas the 32GB drops the writes down to 40MB/s. Both the 8GB and 16GB models read at 165MB/s and write at 22MB/s – see what I mean?

The regular DT4000 G2 works in Windows, OS X, and Linux, whereas the “M-R” version requires Windows or OS X in order to use the management software. As of the time of writing, I’m not sure of pricing, but the drives are set to hit etail imminently, so it won’t take long to find that out.