Fujitsu announces world's first 500GB laptop disk with 256-bit AES encryption

Take 1TB and divide it by two and you've got a pair of new 2.5-inch 500GB disks just introduced by Fujitsu. Fujitsu's MJA2 series of 9.5-mm tall, SATA 3.0Gbps, 5400 RPM disks consume just 1.4 watts during read/write -- that's a 33% reduction from its previous drives while still boosting transfer rates by 27%. Model MJA2 CH even adds the world's first automatic, full-disk, 256-bit AES encryption without any performance penalty due to the hardware level of encryption. Take that Seagate and your weak-sauce 128-bit key. To be fair, any successful attack on a 128-AES key would likely apply to a 256-bit key as well. Expect these to pop for retail (with Western Digital branding too, presumably) sometime in the first quarter of 2009, a bit earlier if you can do without the encryption.

[kyle allen @ Nov 11th 2008 4:06AM]

question, who here has actually used more than 500gb?

[xValentine @ Nov 11th 2008 4:08AM]

People who have lots of media files on their laptops and doesn't want an external harddrive on the go.

[Pretol @ Nov 11th 2008 4:14AM]

that's a dumb question. if people didn't need 500gb, they wouldn't make them.

my server has a terrabyte, my gaming comp has a half a terrabyte, and my laptop has 160gb (and yes, I run out of space on it).

[hi im a mac @ Nov 11th 2008 5:12AM]

Seriously heaps of people do, i got over 1 TB of photos

[James @ Nov 11th 2008 5:03AM]

Me

[Luke D @ Nov 11th 2008 5:38AM]

Actually, if you use more than 500GB, one of these isn't exactly what you're after.

The real question is who uses more than the next step down in capacity, i.e. 320GB. If you use say 400GB, this hard disk is what you need.

[anantha92 @ Nov 11th 2008 6:12AM]

I dare not say it but, movies and music are what generally fill up our HDDs these days.

[kal326 @ Nov 11th 2008 9:15AM]

Virtual machine files eat up a lot of space, the original image as well as undo disks, clean copies of images, CD/DVD iso images to mount to use with the vms. It eats up space pretty quick and I only have a few WinXP and a Ubuntu vm on my laptop.

[gonintendo @ Nov 11th 2008 9:40AM]

For me it's mostly games, and of course guns n roses music.

[DrXym @ Nov 11th 2008 4:46AM]

The phrase "a chain is as strong as the weakest link" applies to security. It really doesn't matter if a drive has 256 bit AES or 128 bit security. 128 bit crypto is quite adequate since it would be impossible to crack without major resources at your disposal.

Besides, attackers don't look for the strong points, they look for the weak points. What matters is *how* security is implemented, and whether there are ways to circumvent it. For example the encryption in the world wouldn't matter, if it turns out that these drives have an insecure way of storing the key, or prompt the user for it (implying a weak key), or if the drive's firmware can be modified to capture the key at next bootup etc.

[Jay @ Nov 11th 2008 5:45AM]

Clearly the user needs to be the one who has the password, otherwise there is no way distinguish between authorized users and unauthorized users.
If you have enough access to the computer to actually modify the firmware, there's most likely other ways of obtaining the key.

Also, while it is true an attack on 128 bit AES would also work in 256 bit AES, that is only part of the story. An attack could very likely be something like reducing the time complexity by square root. In effect reducing 128 bit AES to 56 bit AES, and 256 bit AES to 128 bit AES.
This is actually pretty much what a quantum computer would do to your AES encryption. 256 bit is post-quantum secure, 128 bit is not. Might very important in the years to come. If my drive was stolen today with extremely sensitive information, I would be a lot happier with 256 than 128 bit AES.

[AlekZander @ Nov 11th 2008 8:22AM]

Well, it all depends. If someone finds an algorithm that can crack AES in polynomial time, 256-bit would be no more secure than 128-bit in theory, but in practice it might be, depending on the exact algorithm. We can't really make judgments about that until an attack actually exists.

[DrXym @ Nov 11th 2008 3:00PM]

Higher crypto looks good on paper and procurements but it's not a big deal when 128-bit AES is plenty strong. That's especially the case if the user directly locks the drive with their own password or passphrase since it's likely to have far less complexity than the 128 or 256 bit hash anyway. It's easier to brute force the passphrase. And if the drive doesn't require the user to enter a pass phrase then its either in the BIOS, or the drive, or some smart card. All of them open up other avenues of attack. Point being that the crypto key strength is not the weak point so its the least of your worries.

[mrbranch @ Nov 11th 2008 4:49AM]

Typo error. Fujitsu not Fujistu.

[James @ Nov 11th 2008 5:05AM]

Darn Japanese names.

[LondonConsultant @ Nov 11th 2008 8:32AM]

No, just very weak encryption...

[TriXsteR @ Nov 11th 2008 5:11AM]

Didnt even notice >_

[gonintendo @ Nov 11th 2008 9:57AM]

I know this sounds dumb, but would you be able to hook it up to a desktop with standard sata connectors? I don't plan on doing it (cheaper + bigger desktop drives, obviously) but I'm just curious.

[Matt @ Nov 11th 2008 8:01PM]

Yes.

[SimbaDogg @ Nov 11th 2008 3:02PM]

you're a big dummy...i have a 750 gig (about 700 effective space) that is reduced to about 8 gigs free right now. If you think no one uses over 500, please buy me a 1.5 TB drive on the cheap, and i'll send you this 750.

[SimbaDogg @ Nov 11th 2008 3:03PM]

stupid comment system, this was directed at kyle allen

[Jake @ Nov 11th 2008 11:04PM]

Why is it I've never had any issues replying to a comment?

Hint: it's not me it's you.

-jp

[Wwhat @ Nov 11th 2008 7:09PM]

I hope it has a simple way to disable encryption so that government people and bank people can continue to maintain a reputation of idiocy when they forget to take them with them from public places, they worked so hard and at great cost to get that reputation.

[Wwhat @ Nov 11th 2008 7:10PM]

nm, I suddenly realize they will use the default password of course.

[Jon Doe. @ Nov 11th 2008 8:51PM]

:-( How about someone come out with the world's first 500GB 7200 RPM drive first m'kay?