Apricorn Aegis Bio Encrypted Hard Drive

In our recent look at eight encrypted portable drives, the Apricorn Aegis Bio ($300 for 500GB) came in second.

The Aegis Bio not only has hardware encryption but also is one of the few drives with a built-in biometric fingerprint reader. The reader lets you bypass creating a password for accessing the drive; instead, you register your fingerprint and then swipe your finger across the reader. Using such a drive is a lot easier, since you have no password to memorize (or forget, which would render the data useless). Apricorn takes the biometric security up a notch, too: The bundled software (licensed from reader-manufacturer Upek) lets you scan your fingerprint to log in to Windows. Another tool automatically enters saved passwords (and other data) into forms when you swipe your finger. All of that added functionality makes the Aegis Bio one of the handiest hardware security tools I've encountered.