It seems only a very short while back that I wrote about the SanDisk hardware encrypted flash drive. But it looks like Hitachi Global Storage Technologies has also already begun volume shipment of the Travelstar 7k200 hard disk drive — a high performance 7200rpm Serial ATA brute that offers optional data encryption technology.

The AES data encryption hardware works independently of the CPU, and it provides information security as data is scrambled with a key while being written to the disk and de-scrambled as the data is read. By being a built-in unit, it removes a large obstacle towards a seamless deployment.

The main advantage obviously is that it will eliminate some of the huge negative backlash when laptops go missing. As it is, while it’s still very new, we can expect the monument for hardware-based encrypted hard disks to grow.

You can read more about this at: Hitachi ships Travelstar 7K200 encrypted hard drive

Now, I think that there is no doubt as to the usefulness of this device. However, do you think your management will buy into this hard disk, given that all laptops and PC already come with a pre-existing (non-encrypting) hard disk? How do you intend to persuade them? Join the discussion.