Best AES 256-bit Hardware SELF Encrypting SSD ?

looking for the fastest , best quality AES 256-bit Hardware SELF Encrypting SSD on the market right now with around 200 to 500 GB of space.

ONLY internal ssd ! no pinpad ssd that is connected to an USB port


which one is the best most secure SSD ?

 

Intel (period).

But even then; hardware self encrypting drives (HDD's or SSD's) are really pointless. No additional protection in the real world (just search) but a pain for the user that needs the data when other hardware around them fails...

 

I have a few questions about SSD hardware encryption, could someone please explain it to me?
1. Do all drives supporting hardware encryption self-encrypt themselves even without any HDD password / Bitlocker?
2. When using an SSD with Bitlocker encryption, and there is no datasheet or other information available from the manufacturer, how to determine whether the drive is encrypted by hardware, or by software?
3. I read that Bitlocker software encryption accounts for ~15% transfer speeds loss for a drive. Can it affect battery life to some extent, or is it just unproven marketing nonsense?

 

See:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardware-based_full_disk_encryption


So many things to go wrong...

All software encryption takes up cpu cycles and impacts drive performance (no matter how fast the platform is) and battery life. Not marketing nonsense, but common sense.

How much battery life is affected and/or drive performance suffers depends on many other factors though (not just the fact that it is installed...).

 

To simplify,
#1: yes, drives supporting hardware self-encryption will encrypt regardless of software security

#2: Bitlocker is software encryption. If you don't know what encryption a drive uses, then you don't know if there is any additional encryption beyond Bitlocker or not.

#3: See Tiller's answer. Bitlocker has a performance impact. As such, it also impacts battery life. However, the precise extent of these impacts will vary with system specifications and battery capacity.

 

@djembe I have the following situation. Encrypting an SSD in Windows 10, I was asked whether I need the full drive encrypted, or free space. As far as I read, this means the drive doesn't have hardware encryption, this dialog won't even appear since Bitlocker would take control of hardware encryption; however, synthetic tests (e.g. CrystalDiskMark) did not reveal any performance difference. I'm considering buying a new SSD, which will be encrypted immediately, so if my current drive ain't self-encrypting and still performing well with Bitlocker, no reason to narrow my scope.

 

A self-encrypting drive would free up the system resources currently being used for encryption. But if you don't notice the current performance hit, then you're right. There's no need to prioritize self-encrypting drives unless your encryption needs to be compliant with a specific rule.

 

@djembe when it comes to SSDs, I prioritize only reliability and price per GB. (= Thank you for answering my questions.

 

what would you then recommend to do if you want to encrypt your whole hard drive?

-fast
-easy
-efficient
-Hacker Proof against ANYTHING

 

No such animal.

Especially your last point...

 

Nothing consumer is hack proof lol.. You'll get through it eventually...

 

lets say you have banking data, private infromations and want to protect it against
hackers like the N.S.A and F.B.I

you just store data on your SSD, shut your computer down and want to protect it from anything.
how do you do that easily while storing your data on a SSD ?

I have a kingston data traveller 2000 for USB, you say that is useless too?

 

You really think that three letter shadows play on our backwoods field? Lol...

You really believe the current show the fruity company is putting on for the world? Lol...

My theory on devices like the Kingston? Password and key is deleted after 10 attempts so that it can't be proved their 'XTS' mode is actually crackable?

My concern; how do I get access to MY DATA again when the idiot next to me was fiddling with it for kicks?

So yeah; 'useless too'.

As TomJGX stated; "Nothing consumer is hack proof".

And even if you locked the info in your mind, they still have ways...

 

A tin foil hat might help.

If you're hiding things from NSA and FBI then you're likely doing something that shouldn't be done anyhow. I just try to protect my stuff from the common thief, because what's in my bank accounts is paltry and of no interest to anyone else. And if you're that concerned, then posting on a public forum with a trackable IP isn't the best idea either.

 

i was just asking cause I dont want anyone to have access to my banking data, nothing to hide from my side except my personal infromations.

 

I'd recommend rooming up as a POW in a prison camp to train against Rubber Hose attacks.

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On a more serious note, you can do things to slow down an attack (such as software & hardware encryption), but sooner or later your protections will be broken. You need to plan your security based on what attacks you feel are likely against you. For example, Bitlocker is fine enough to make sure a burglar can't make off with your HDD contents, but it will be a wet tissue against anyone competent in breaking such systems (ignoring the possibility of a Bitlocker backdoor). A Kensington lock helps prevent against snatch-and-run thieves, but won't do anything against a person with bolt cutters. As for more advanced threats, I feel the best way to protect your data is to make them think it doesn't exist at all (TrueCrypt/VeraCrypt hidden containers, plausible deniability, etc.). But even then you can still fail in protecting your hidden data (hell, Snowden defeated all the protections the NSA placed, simply because they trusted him with the data).

One way I can think of for defeating a self-encrypting SSD would be to keep the drive powered when removing it from the host computer (so that it stays decrypted). Though this can be prevented with good physical security (never leave the computer out of your sight, especially if you're using it).