Announced at CES just a few months ago, the idea of a portable hard drive that you unlock with your fingerprint is really cool – but now that I’ve used it, I can tell you it’s more that cool – it’s really useful.
The Samsung T7 Touch is a small portable hard drive that has one key feature most of which are not: security.
Although it looks like most other small Samsung SSDs, there is a square on the top of this device that lights up when plugged in – it’s a fingerprint sensor.
Just press your fingerprint and the reader will unlock and all of our files will be visible on the connected computer or smartphone.
Setup was a lot easier than I thought – the software is on the reader, just run it, then name your reader and scan your fingerprint like you do on a smartphone.
A password is also required for backup protection, but you will only use your fingerprint, I’m sure.
When you connect the reader to a device and do not scan your fingerprint, it is displayed, but no files are visible.
Scan your fingerprint and your boom – there are your files. I love this.
It’s not cheap – the 500 GB version is at $ 279, the 1 TB at $ 439 and 2 TB at $ 799.
For complete security of your files, it doesn’t get much better.
However, the product could be improved. Imagine that there was an unlocked folder when you could drop files and that those files were visible in read-only mode when the drive was not unlocked.
This way you can easily share files. I couldn’t find a way to do it, neither in the manual nor in the user manual.
Otherwise, it’s great. Solid security for those on the go who care about leaving a hard drive behind.
Trev is a tech commentator, dad, speaker and reverend chef.
He produces and hosts two popular podcasts, EFTM and Two Blokes Talking Tech. He also appears on more than 50 radio stations across Australia every week.
Father of three children, he often finds himself in his human cave.
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