Seagate announced its 1 terabyte monster desktop hard drive with built-in government-grade encryption. Calling it the strongest security available for desktop PCs, the Barracuda FDE - Full Disk Encryption - hard drive is the world’s first 3.5 inch desktop hard drive with native encryption to prevent data theft.

Thanks to AES encryption, the Barracuda FDE delivers security for powered-down systems. The interesting part is that logging back on requires you to enter a pre-boot user password. Assuming that users are smart enough to reset any default password, this gives you a better sense of security. I don’t know about you, but it does to me. With capacities up to 1 TB, the 7200 rpm drive is ideal for your home or office needs.

The Barracuda FDE is based on Seagate’s DriveTrust technology, the drives are easy to install and operate. Drive-level security means that there’s no need for additional patches, updates or upgrades. Of course, you will have to wait just a few more months. The drive will be officially launched some time in 2008. No word on the pricing yet.

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