What I'm looking for is a piece of software that if my USB drive gets stolen, the contents are encrypted and password protected so the bad guy can't get to them.
Toucan looks good, but I get the impression from the screenshots that I have to decrypt the drive every time I want to use it. Is that the case?
I'm looking for a simple software package that I can set up the encryption paths once and set a password to protect them. Then every time the correct password is entered, the drive is decrypted automagically.
Does that make any sense?
Thanks!
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Toucan is a Backup program that can optionally encrypt the files it backs up.
Some people need/want their backups to be encrypted since the backup goes to other media, machines, or servers.
This has absolutely no effect on the stuff that's currently on your USB drive.
I personally don't use encryption on my drive so I can't recommend any particular program for you. You might want to search for True Crypt or encryption...
I just wanted to help explain that Toucan isn't the tool you're looking for.
Jim
neutron1132 (at) usa (dot) com
I agree. Toucan and TrueCrypt, two separate programs for two separate purposes, are both excellent programs and are worth taking the time to learn about.
It is important to understand that Toucan only offers encrypted backups! It does not, however, somehow encrypt the entire drive.
It you're looking for encryption of your entire drive (or even just a portion of it), TrueCrypt is definitely also my recommendation. While not in paf format, it can still be ran in "traveller mode" (as they call it), as long as the account on that particular local machine has admin privileges.
Would this be admin privileges on the local machine when I install TrueCrypt -or- is admin privileges required on the local machine when I run the USB drive?
This is a critical difference for me, as I cannot be certain the *running* machine will have admin privileges.
By the way ... thanks for your recommendation.
Well, a collective "you're welcome!"
I'm sorry for the ambiguous answer. Let me clarify. Two scenarios:
1) If the local machine happens to have TrueCrypt already installed, and the user account can run it, then that user does not need admin privileges. You would simply then launch TrueCrypt from the local machine and use it decrypt your material.
2) If the local machine does not have TrueCrypt installed, you would need to copy the executable files ( explained here) onto the (USB?) device with your encrypted contents. You would then simply launch that executable off of the device. It is this scenario that requires admin privileges.
I'd recommend you check out their website for further clarification. Fortunately the documentation is great - it looks daunting, but don't be scared. It's actually quite well put together (and it will make sure I didn't tell you anything wrong).
P.S. - TrueCrypt just released a new version on this very day (July 4, 2008), with many fun new features (including the ability hide an entire operating system or to utilize multiple processors/ multiple core to increase encryption/decryption rates).
to expand on the other comments, you can use Toucan to encrypt arbitary files, but it is not very suitable for doing an entire drive.
I use it to protect my cookies, and password files from being used if I lose my USB thumbdrive, without losing the convenience of using Firefox with my passwords saved in it.