Overview
Verbatim’s Secure ‘n’ Go USB stick feels really solid. Its rugged plastic casing gives the impression of being highly resistant to damage. The interface connection is also partly protected by a retractable cover but the socket opening is still uncovered and so is still plausibly prone to foreign debris intrusion.
Installation
When you first plug in the device it takes a while to come to life. We actually had to check to see if it had been inserted correctly. This delay was probably due to the slower initial detection speeds of secured devices, compared with the speed of standard USB sticks that we’re more used to. On subsequent attempts it was detected straight away.
Setup is easy, you only have to enter a password, apply and finish. It then asks you to log in using your new password and the process is complete.
Password Strength
There is no password policy enforced on this device. There are also no password restrictions or warnings about weak passwords. The device allowed the simple and weak password “test” to be used. This could pose a problem if it is lost.
Encryption space
Like most of the other devices in this review, its advertised capacity is 4GB, although the actual available space for storage is 3.71GB.
Files
Add, Remove, Delete
Once you access the device, the mounted drive presents you with a standard Windows Explorer feature set. Navigating is familiar and easy.
Editing files
The device uses Windows Explorer, so editing files stored in the secure area is quick and easy. Changes can be made and saved without fuss.
Access
The device is fully encrypted so cannot be accessed without using the log-in application. Once logged-in the device mounts the storage area as a separate drive. To access this drive you have to navigate back to My Computer, select the F: drive (as it presented on the test PC). It would have been preferable to see the storage area automatically launch on login.
Once logged-in, you stay logged in to the secure area until you either exit using the system tray icon or remove the drive. Closing the window on this device does not lock the secure area.
Security
This device is fully encrypted. Our first test did not detect any files while the device was logged-out.
Once logged-in the second test successfully located the deleted files (in exactly the same way as any other storage device).
Using the ‘reset to factory defaults’ function, the recovery software could not find any files.