November 17, 2008 Losing your portable drive is a bad scenario, but if it happens to hold sensitive unprotected data, things can quickly get worse. Lenovo's solution is the ThinkPad USB Portable Secure Hard Drive, a compact unit available in 160 or 320 GB versions that protects unauthorized data access by requiring users to type an access code into an in-built numeric keypad.

Measuring a meagre 3 x 5 inches and less than an inch thick, the hard drive features full-disk encryption for up to ten unique user ID’s and one administrator, making it a useful collaboration tool. It meets the 128-bit advanced encryption security standard and real-time encryption means there's no lag time when accessing data.

The Lenovo ThinkPad USB Portable Secure Hard Drive are due for release this month at as cost of USD$179 for the 160 GB model and $219 for the 320 GB model.