Hey guys,
My first post 
Sorry I know this has been discussed endlessly and it's clear that a hardware based USB stick is the way to go if you want secure, encrypted portable app mobility.
But my question is 'Which to go for'?
As I'm likely to be spending good money of one I need to make sure it's the right one.
At present I've got 2 listed:
Kingston Datatraveler Secure
Ironkey (not happy with the built in Firefox)
Size can't be less then 4GB, and read/write speed must be good enough to maybe having 2 apps running side by side.
Thanks.
Mark.
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If you plan to go with Windows 7, why not wait for BitLocker ToGo? I think it even allows you to install a small additional driver on older systems like XP for compatibility purpose.
Doesn't the application that comes with the DataTraveler Secure need admin rights to function properly?
BitLockerToGo would have the exact same issue as TrueCrypt. It's nothing new feature-wise. So it only applies to machines you control, just like TrueCrypt.
Hardware encryption means that it doesn't need additional software to encrypt/decrypt. It does use software to tell the hardware to unlock the secured partition using the password you used to encrypt it. But this does not require admin rights (since it isn't using software to mount a drive).
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
I hear good things about the IronKey, although you might not be able to purchase one, as I don't believe they can be exported from the US due to national security issues.
"If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate."
such gadgets can be bought almost everyehre now, here we have a local dealers too, get it there from shelf.
But the things are prety expensive so far, I have no idea what they claim to put in to make it so expensive.
OK, there seem to be different approaches to the hardware encryption. Still the descriptions tell you it is compatible with so and so operating systems which I feel it should not. Any operating system with ability to talk to an usb stick of such size should be able to talk to those too without exeption and not need to be advertized specialy like with ironkey (now Linux 2.6x supported.!!??!!??)
So I think the encryption is still not 100% transparent to any OS for some reason.
Otto Sykora
Basel, Switzerland
I haven't reviewed this extensively, but I think the following applies.
If the USB drive has to run some software to accept a pass phrase, that would be dependent on the OS(s) ... unless you can enter the pass phrase via little buttons on the USB drive itself.
Once the pass phrase is submitted to the drive, it should function like any other USB storage device.
MC
Maybe you should stop posting what you "believe"
until you have verified that your beliefs are more than that ?
https://store.ironkey.com/retailers
Hi RMB
you as kind of hardware expert might advise me what does cause drives to report as removable or not.
there is a thread also https://portableapps.com/node/17649
sure there are some hardware ways to communicate this to OS, but also some lowlevel software, e.g. in the partitioning of the drive etc.
Any infos to this subject?
Thank in advance
Otto Sykora
Basel, Switzerland
I learned about this because, like many other people, I was wondering why a flash-drive wouldn't auto-run ..
Straight from the horse's mouth :
"Q: What must I do to trigger Autorun on my USB storage device?
The Autorun capabilities are restricted to CD-ROM drives and fixed disk drives.
If you need to make a USB storage device perform Autorun, the device must not be marked as a removable media device and the device must contain an Autorun.inf file and a startup application.
The removable media device setting is a flag contained within the SCSI Inquiry Data response to the SCSI Inquiry command. Bit 7 of byte 1 (indexed from 0) is the Removable Media Bit (RMB). A RMB set to zero indicates that the device is not a removable media device. A RMB of one indicates that the device is a removable media device. Drivers obtain this information by using the StorageDeviceProperty request.
For more information about the SCSI Inquiry command, see the T10 committee located at http://www.t10.org &
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SCSI_Inquiry_Command
For more information about the StorageDeviceProperty, see the STORAGE_DEVICE_DESCRIPTOR storage structure in the Windows DDK, located at http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-gb/library/aa510117.aspx. "
The RMB is "coded" in the devices controller-chip .
I haven't found a way to partition around it, not even a hex-editor does the trick.
To my knowledge there are 3 ways to solve the issue :
1 : Find the "Mass-production tool" for your devices controller and "flip" the RMB.
This is a permanent solution,it works on all hosts (no driver-installation required)
2 : The Hitachi Micro-drive filter-driver. Installation requires admin-rights
and the device must be "told" to use the filter-driver over the default win-driver.
3 : "Dummydisk.sys", a alternative filter-driver . This one will make ALL "removable" devices "fixed" without further configuration .
( 4: Lexar's "BootIt-tool" is able to flip the RMB on some devices.
According to Uwe Siebers excellent site it works with the following drives,
or any drive using identical controller-chip :
* Corsair Flash Voyager 16 GB
* Corsair Flash Voyager GT 4 GB (VID_1B1C&PID_1A90)
* Corsair Flash Voyager GT 16 GB
* Corsair Flash Survivor 32GB
* OCZ Rally2 32 GB
* OCZ ATV 4GB
* Buffalo Firestixx 1 GB (RUF2-S) )
IMO the main advantage of having your UFD show as "Fixed" is that you can create (and mount) multiple partitions on your flash-drive .
No need to be rude here.
A single post showing additional retailers would have been enough.