LaCie on Tuesday introduced a new line of SAFE desktop and mobile hard drives, which include an embedded sensor that the user swipes with his finger to lock or unlock it. They can be set up for use by up to five users, as well as up to 10 fingerprints, and feature an internal drive lock on the firmware, preventing someone from removing the drive from the case and plugging it into another computer.
The SAFE hard drive offers USB 2.0 connectivity and can be customized per user for read/write or read-only access. The desktop version also includes a chain lock port for attaching the drive to a desk with a chain also available from LaCie.
SAFE hard drives come with LaCie 1-Click Backup Software as well as SilverKeeper Backup Software. The desktop version is available in 160GB (US$179.99), 320GB ($219.99), and 500GB ($369.99) capacities, while the mobile version comes in 40GB ($99.99), 80GB ($169.99), and 120GB ($279.99) capacities. The mobile version also has 80GB ($219.99) and 120GB ($299.99) models that offer hardware encryption for automatic file encoding.