Customer Reviews

AcomData Enigma Fingerprint Security 500 GB USB 2.0 Rugged Portable 2.5-inch External Hard Drive BIO500UE (Black)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This portable drive is well made. The rubber siding helps protect it from getting scratched; would it withstand a big drop? who knows?!?!? I didn't have an issue with the software being for windows only. My only problem is that the software wouldn't recognize my index finger consistently with the biometric scanner....sometimes it would, other times it would not. If it did scan my finger correctly the software would hang up. I contacted acomdata and they emailed me an update to the software. That did not help as I still encountered the same problem. I think the portable drive needs some fixes before it will be purchase worthy. I would not recommend at this time.

I purchased a couple of these and returned them.

First, I will say that the concept and construction are well done. It is a little bit heavy, but it sits nicely on the desk with the rubber border and the fingerprint reader is in a nice position. So as far as the concept goes, it is a nice unit. This is the reason it gets two stars instead of one. The fingerprint recoginition software was also nice from a simple user interface standpoint.

However, I am very suspicious of the software. I had quite a few problems on both drives. I contacted Acomdata, and they were helpful. They provided a software application to reconfigure/reset the device. I had two drives, so my problems were not likely due to a luck of the draw bad drive. They both behaved the same way with my system.

You can use this drive with the entire drive encrypted, none of it encrypted, or half and half. I tried it all ways. If you use an encrypted partition, you can not hard set the drive letter, so it always comes up as the next drive letter available. This is problematic if you would like to use the drive as an encrypted backup drive. Your backup software needs to know the drive letter it will be. If it comes up as a different drive letter, then you need to change your backup software each time to use the different drive letter. If you use it in non-encrypted mode, you can fix the drive letter.

I tried my first backup. I would get through about 50,000 files and it would crash. It would say my system (pretty good system) is out of resources. I would immediately try again. This time I might get 5000 more files, then the same message. I tried again, and I would get about 1000 more files before it failed. The resources on my system were to the point that many of my other programs would fail to operate. I would eventually have to restart the machine, and one time I couldn't even restart it. It is almost as if the software from the drive, that is being used when moving files to the drive, had some sort of memory/resource leak. I'm not a software expert, but that is what if felt like. This happened with both encrypted and non-encrypted partitions. I tried another computer (top of the line). The problem seemed better, but slightly different. It still didn't finish correctly. Through part of this, I even had an error that corrupted part of the backup and I could not recover the data. Both computers had XP SP2.

So there you go, I had a lot of random trouble. Could be my computer, or the other computer, or the fact that I was unlucky enough to get two bad drives. The design is nice enough that it may be worth trying out, but it would be nice to hear some reviews from other people who have had better luck first. It just got to the point where I couldn't trust that my data was being handled safely, so I had to return it. If you have had good luck with this drive, please post.

Drive seems good but it does require you to install software. The software is only Windows compatible and requires administrator login. If you really didn't have to install software I would not have a problem with this product. I returned this product and purchased Buffalo Technology HD-PF320U2 320GB MiniStation Portable USB 2.0 Hard Drive with TurboUSB (Black)

i brought this because it looked good and it had extra features, the fingerprint log in works OK but you can always use your password to log in as an alternative...This is a bit of a pain as you can not turn it off so you dont have instant plug and play...But thats what the unit is for PRIVACY...works just as good as my Seagate with fast download....in general works excellent and looks good unless you have secret files then you would only need an instant plug and play external drive

I took this drive right out of the package after receiving it from a vendor as a gift. After hooking it up and the install it ask for a password. Then it ask to setup the Biometric finger swipe. You can swipe till you are blue in the face and it will not proceed any further. I cannot even use this fresh from the box drive. I will be sticking with my Seagate Freeagent Go. It works!

Bought this to back up media files and work files and keep them with me. Unfortunately, can't use it for that. On my work laptop running Windows 7 Ultimate, it is recognized (and I've done the testing)less than 10% of the time. Thinking this was due to the drive mapping on the work domain, tried this offline, but still the same problem.

At home, it gets recognized about 50% of the time, but then disappears off Windows Explorer 100% of the time (this on Windows XP PRO SP3). I have about a 15second window of opportunity to grab what I want off of the drive before Windows "loses" it.

The fingerprint reader works a fraction of the time. I've long since simply used a typed password for security. Which essentially makes this drive no different than any other portable drive. Oh, other than that it fails to be recognized.

Construction-wise, seems very solid. I don't know if I got a lemon, but I returned the product for a refund, rather than a replacement. I'll find another way to secure my data.

I bought this a few months ago. I lost all my data I've collected for the past five years,
I reloaded drivers, rebooted eight times, swapped USB ports, nothing. All it says is "Do I Want to Install Nomad, requires 15MB Space" and windows states "Device is not formatted" for my data drive. 400GB of EXPENSIVE multimedia is GONE. Make sure to back up your data. I Wake up one morning, and this thing left me hung out to dry, and SOL (ish outta luck). I bought two of these to use the other as backup...Only one was detected when I plugged both in. So much for my money. SOL again.

I can't believe that I paid good money for this junker and I cannot even get it to work. The scanner will not accept any of my finger scans, so its back to the store it goes.

I bought this product for its fingerprint scanner and it is working perfectly. You can experience some problems when you have no administrator rights that particular PC, because it runs software to scan your fingerprint and this feature can't be switched off! You can't just use it without authentication! Your finger or password is required! This thing is perfect for personal data and use, so none can access your private data. Working as expected, and if you need such extra security then this product is for you.

WISH...It has NOMAD MOBILE DESKTOP App.for cool& easy access as they had it on Acomdata Hybrid Drive
I'd love to recommend it to Everyone