One of the most important considerations of self-encrypting drives is that they are hardware and not software based, providing little if any performance lost in the encryption process. Does this mean that if I remove my SSD and place it in another PC it can’t be read? Absolutely not, however, when combined with programs such as BiLocker, SSDs comply with TCG Opal 2.0 and FIPS 140-2 standards and cannot be compromised. TCG Opal compliance also enables companies such as MacAfee, Symantec etc to take advantage of the encryption. An example of this is specific to the X10 which does not have AES 256-bit encryption like the X10 Pro. It is this encryption that allows Crucial to provide software for the extra password security of the X10 Pro. Very very important consideration is that, if you lose the password, you will not gain access to the protected data. Period. It is lost.

If plugging in/powering on the drive automatically enables encrypt/decrypt silently in the background, the data is not in any way protected that I can see.

I like the idea of encryption at rest, but if it’s security theater, then it is the same as any other drive.

To be clear, this isn’t specific to this drive, just the call out in the article made me wonder more about its usefulness.