It may be a little off topic but highly relevant.
I have an old 256mb "flashit" COMSOL usb drive.
On insertion it requests a password. If no password then the drive is only useful for formatting.
I would like software similar to this that can be used on all usb drives (for free as I have so many).
Any ideas ??
Thanks
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Yaa...that's really good idea...
In addition to your idea, user should be able to lock whole hard disk(USB) and can only access through Xenon or any explorer softwares through password. So user can protect the private contents instead of protecting whole USB.
i'd really like some kind of data protection for my portable apps usb stick, since all my data (FTP settings, bookmarks, email accounts, ...) are accessible for everyone if i lost my usb stick...
yes, i use the master password in firefox and thunderbird, but you can see and use a lot of personal information without entering these master passwords...
isn't there any file system level setting possible for encryption and/or password protection? i think this would be the best solution 'cause independent from any additional software...
As discussed many times, you can use TrueCrypt for rock solid encryption. But it will only work on machines you log into as admin. That's fine for many people.
If you want encryption that works anywhere, you have to buy a drive with hardware encryption. Do NOT settle for a drive with "password protection" or an "encrypted password" as some less-than-ethical manufacturers bill their drives. You need solid hardware encryption like the Kingston Datatraveler Secure or something similar.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
There´s a lot payware and, of course, TrueCrypt for that purpose.
Simple protecting the drive by a password isn´t of much worth because often you can bypass it by quick formatting and unerasing the drive afterwards.
Encrypting the drive almost ever requires admin account or at least the driver being installed on the local HDD.
Rohos (=payware)and old true crypt volumes can be explored by a sort of fileexplorer protected by the main password, even on restricted accounts.
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Buffalo secure lock ware - it is free but you need to install it on the host machine - so not truly portable.
You can carry the installer on an unencrypted section of your USB device and provided you have admin (install) rights for each host machine you connect to, can have a that level of portability.
Someone should come up with a truly portable version of this software and hand it out to Government agencies I think!!!
http://www.buffalo-asia.com/products/secure_look_ware.html
regards
I've also been thinking about this but I don't understand all the technical stuff behind the issue so I don't know how the encryption works and how secure it actually is. Well, I'm using PGP Desktop to encrypt my HDD and from what I've read it's pretty secure (eg. can't be decrypted given that the password is not known). So can this be used to encrypt the USB drive? And is that really secure or it can all be bypassed somehow?
You could try this: http://www.keynesis.com/products/
I use it all the time.
They even used some of my suggestions in the newer versions.
At the bottom of the page it states that:
3. In Windows 2000, XP and Vista - user account with Administrator privileges.
So it works exactly the same way TrueCrypt does.
*ALL* whole-drive software-only encryption tools require admin rights.
If you want an encrypted drive that works on all PCs you need to buy one with hardware encryption. (but don't fall for "encrypted password" or "password protected" like some unethical flash drive companies sell)
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
http://www.softpedia.com/get/Security/Encrypting/Remora-USB-File-Guard.s...