iStorage’s Diskashur M2 is stylish, stealthy and a pretty decent bargain as far as secure flash drives are concerned. More importantly, it’s a good performer, and ticks all the security boxes. Or it will when FIPS 140-2 level 3 certification is complete this Q4/2021.
Design
The 105mm long, 45mm wide, by 12mm thick M2’s appearance, while handsome, is rather non-descript in terms of functionality with its protective sleeve in place. Said black aluminum sleeve covers the drive up to the chromed finger-hold that you grab to remove the actual SSD from its hideaway. A rubber gasket makes for a water/dust tight seal. With both halves mated, the M2 is rated IP68 for resistance against such foreign substances.
Alas, running contrary to its otherwise innocuous appearance, there was a bold “DISKASHUR M2” logo on my review unit. So much for stealth. Never fear though, you can customize the sleeve’s tattooing to anything you want, including zilch. I recommend the latter, as the most successful security operations are those that are or were never suspected.
There’s no battery inside the M2, so you must connect the drive to a computing device to unlock it. To that end, the drive has a micro-B USB port, and the drive ships with both micro-B to Type-A and micro-B to Type-C cables. I was a tad surprised at the choice of micro-B rather than the more modern Type-C. However, because of the larger surface area and design it does tend towards a more physically secure (less likely to separate) connection than other USB connections. And indeed, the fit was quite secure in the drive I tested.
My real, albeit minor gripe is that the cables don’t sit quite flush with the drive, leaving some metal on the male side exposed. IPS68 is likely merely a distant memory with the M2’s sleeve off.
Features
The M2 is a keypad design sporting 0-9, shift (used to alter the standard numbers) and key buttons, as well as lock, unlock, and three (red, green, blue) status lights. The latter relates the state of the drive: locked, unlocked, admin, etc., and flashes when the M2 is reading or writing.
The buttons are polymer-coated to ward off visible wear that could give hints as to PINs. Regardless, a long PIN that employs as many keys as possible (and that you can remember) is recommended. I won’t relay the operational basics to you, but here’s a link to the manual. I will tell you that you can use a PIN from 7 to 15 digits in length.
Delving deeper, the M2 offers the most important security features. It uses a Common Criteria EAL 5+ (Hardware Certified) secure microprocessor featuring FIPS PUB 197 validated/AES-XTS 256-bit hardware encryption. It’s also physically sealed with the hope that it’s tamper-proof. It won’t go up in smoke Mission Impossible style (or erase the data), but you’re likely to make a mess of guts if you try to access the inner workings.
The Diskashur M2 is available in 120GB/£129, 240GB/£149, 500GB/£179, 1TB/£249, and 2TB/£429 flavors. At the time of this writing, you could multiply by about 1.4 for the price in dollars. You’re on your own for other currencies. All things considered, the M2 is decently affordable for a drive that will soon sport FIPS 140-2 Level 3 certification (pending Q4/2021) and already sports an IP68 rating.
My one caveat as to suitability task is that relying on separate cables and being attached to a device to unlock does pose certain operational considerations.
Performance
I was pleasantly surprised at the performance of the 1TB M2 that iStorage sent me. It read at a healthy 280MBps and wrote at 287MBps on my 2015 iMac’s 5Gbps USB port (Type-A).
It was an even more robust performer over a 20Gbps (3.2×2) USB port at 303MBps reading and 315MBPs.
Conclusion
The Diskashur M2 has a lot going for it in basic design and functionality, as well as price and performance. It also looks good when you pull it out of the briefcase–that never hurts. You might wait for the FIPS certification if your purchasing doctrine requires it, otherwise, recommended.
