Lexar JumpDrive Secure II Flash Drive Review

The plastic cap feels very strong and resists bending to pressure from a quick two-finger-and-thumb squeeze test, has a small hole drilled through the top for attachment to a lanyard that Lexar decided not to include. The cap clicks firmly into place over the USB connection for a secure fit, so if you do use a lanyard you can take confidence that the drive won't slip out while wearing it.

Staying Secure
The Dashboard software Lexar pre-installs on the JumpDrive Secure II works with Windows 2000/XP and Mac OS X 10.2+, and bears a striking resemblance to Apple's brushed metal interface. Everything is neatly laid out with oversized buttons that provide information and additional options in a sliding tray, and an interface that is nearly identical on either platform.

There are three main functions of the Dashboard: Vaults, File Encryption, and Shredding. The vaults are essentially encrypted disk images stored on the drive as LXV files that may be mounted to any free drive letter, automatically encrypting files using a 256-bit AES algorithm as they are stored and modified inside the vault. Multiple vaults may be created and mounted from either on the drive or the host machine, and can be anywhere from 32MB to 2GB in size. There's about a 40% performance loss when using encryption, although for most files this wouldn't pose a problem. The only real downside to using a vault is when traveling - you need administrative rights on both Mac and PC for the driver to be loaded, and on a Mac you need to take the time to install it.

Alternatively, individual files may be encrypted as LRS files (again on both the drive itself and the computer), either by selecting the files manually or dragging them into the Dashboard window. To speed things up, multiple files may be selected up for batch processing using the same password. In order to access the file again, it must be decrypted first.

Passwords used for vaults and files may be accompanied by a password hint, and are analyzed in real-time to display the password's integrity via a Strength Meter to promote security awareness and stronger passwords. Strangely enough however, "keyboard" - a password vulnerable to a dictionary attack - has the same security rating as another 8-character password with mixed letters and numbers, "P455w0rd" (Password). This changes as the spelling of twisters is modified with more or less characters and numbers replacing letters with mixed cases, so the strength isn't rated by length alone - in fact a 32-character password composed of all "a"s gets an extremely low strength rating as one would expect.

The third and final feature of the JumpDrive's Dashboard is the ability to shred files and disk space. For those new to the concept, whenever you normally delete a file, it leaves the data there and allows it to be written over when needed. As such, many utilities like Norton UnErase exist to recover files that are deleted, posing a potential security problem.

To combat this threat, Lexar JumpDrive Secure II has included a file shredding utility that writes over a file after it's been deleted to make data unrecoverable. Using the DoD standard for shredding, the utility can overwrite regular files, the contents of the local computer's recycle bin, and even shred all the free disk space on any drive (a time-consuming process) in case you accidentally deleted a file without shredding it first. On the PC there's also a Quick Shredder that can be launched from the Dashboard's system tray icon that shreds any file dragged to it without question.

JumpDrive Performance, Recap
Looking at the below Sandra results, you can see that the JumpDrive Secure II is better at handling small files than Lexar's JumpDrive Lightning, but when dealing with larger files it's a tad slower. At its fastest, it can read at 96.8Mbps and write at 68.3Mbps. Read speeds were fairly consistent across the board, while write speeds were only showing their potential at 2MB or higher. Also included are the Sandra results from an encrypted vault mounted off the flash drive.

In the end we were left with a favorable impression of Lexar's latest offering. It's slim, speedy, and best of all it works on both platforms. The addition of a file shredder sweetens the deal. The only negatives we could find are the need for Administrative rights to use the vaults, and the lack of a lanyard. Regardless, the Lexar JumpDrive Secure II is well worth the money if security is a priority to you.