When the first flash drive was introduced, it opened up a completely new set of opportunities in the field of portable storage. After a long time when floppy diskettes and optical disks were the main means of transferring data, a newer, smaller but more capacious solution drew a great deal of attention and quickly became the preferred traveling partner for consumers and business users alike. Nevertheless, as it always occurs with something promising, problems arose.

The main issue with flash drives is that they don't usually offer much, if anything, in the way of data protection. Granted, ODs and floppy disks don't exactly excel at encryption either. On the other hand, their very nature of flash storage provides the possibility for a high level of security by means of encryption protocols. It is this that enabled companies like Corsair to develop devices like the Padlock 2.

The Padlock 2 is a flash drive that was officially launched back in February and that is designed in such a way as to safeguard sensitive data. It boasts 256-bit AES hardware encryption and even a user-defined PIN (Personal Identification Number) that needs to be entered via the built-in keypad; otherwise, the data won't become accessible. Not only that, but the drive is also housed inside a ruggedized rubber shell. Basically, Corsair designed its product as a highly secure means of transporting data and let a single so-called drawback slip by.

The disadvantage of the Padlock 2 was that it had a rather small storage capacity, 8GB to be exact. Corsair decided it was time to rectify this small inconvenience by adding a model with 16GB of storage space but which retains all the other features. This version is slated to start shipping soon and is already up for pre-order at a price of $90.