Hello,
I'm using PortableApps for a while and the more I use it the more I like it !
But there is one little detail that makes me quite afraid.
If I lose my USB key, all my documents can be taken by anyone.
So here is my question : is it possible to protect the access to the device with PortableApps on it with a password ?
I've been looking for a solution on this website and on the internet but I can not find anyhting about that request...
So thanks a lot to all the users of this fantastic suite who can and will help me 
Visit the Community page
Join our forums
Subscribe to our email newsletter
Subscribe with RSS
Follow us on Facebook
Follow us on LinkedIn
Follow us on Twitter
Follow us on Mastodon
Follow us on BlueSky
I use FreeOTFE. I leave a public area of 128 MB and an encripted volume for the remaining space. Inside this volume, I have portable apps with its documents folder.
If your USB is of more than 2 GB, you will need to actualize the windows drivers with the new file standard: exFAT. You cand search microsoft web site to find the corresponding driver. With it, I was able to format a volume of almost 8 GB.
Do NOT use the proprietary exFAT for anything. It's a Microsoft-only format. It won't work on Mac or Linux. It will probably never be in Linux due to Microsoft's patents on it. And it won't even work on most Windows PCs you take it to as it doesn't work on XP unless you install an optional update.
You can use FAT32 on 8GB drives just fine.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
The apps on this site only run on Microsoft operating systems, so what's the problem if his flash drive isn't Mac/Linux friendly? WINE aside if you use software here on your flash drive, you won't have much use putting it in one of those computers (well, except for the documents).
Just sayin.
That said, FAT32 and NTFS work fine in partitions over 2GB. Not sure where that came from. My flash drive is 4GB and formatted FAT32 no problem.
It isn't about whether or not PA will work. If you format your drive in exFAT, your drive won't even be readable on computers that don't support it. That means documents or anything. And as John pointed out, "computers that don't support it" includes anything before Vista SP1 without specifically installed updates. With FAT32 being a perfectly viable alternative for a flash drive
Quamquam omniam nescio, nec nihil scio.
Mr. Haller:
Thanks for your information. You are right. There are computers with windows that does not have installed the exFAT driver, therefore, making imposible for me to use my USB in those machines if I don't install the driver, previously, which requieres a second USB. Things are more difficult, because the driver must match the operating system language and also, the machine has to have administraror rights on the user that its allowed to me.
What forced me to use exFAT, was that I needed to include portable programs and documents inside a file that the encrypting software creates and denominate container. In that way, I don't have to encrypt/unencrypt every file I work on it. Since I needed to use a file of almost 8 GB in size, FAT32 wasn't able to do that. The biggest file I get was 2GB, if I remember well. That means to me, four file containers, each requiring four passwords and generating four corresponding drive letters.
I wish to have a better solution. I tried NFTS but the formatting process take too much time and was worried about USB wearing. I have read somewhere that linux can format USB and are readable under windows. Is it posible to have files of 8GB in size under such operative system that are accesible for windows?
Almost forgot to add, that in the public space I have a copy of the encrypting software and the antivirus. Another alternative was to encrypt the whole drive, but this option has a drawback that I need a second USB with the mentioned software, which is uncomfortable but not imposible to manage.
Wishing blessings from God to you
Denis J Navas
You can use NTFS on your external drive just fine. You just need to ensure you create it without security descriptors. To do that, format it as FAT32 and then use the convert command at the command prompt with the /NOSECURITY switch. It should then work properly on all Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7 machines. And you should be able to read it on all current Linux distros and write to it on some.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
Many thanks
http://www.pearl.de/a-PX8005-1130.shtml
solution?
Otto Sykora
Basel, Switzerland
But I can,t read German.
Can anyone translate?
http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pearl.de%2Fa-PX...
Although the image in the upper right corner of the page says it all.
Ed
This lock is a good mechanism in an office environment. But, with enough time, anyone can test one by one every combination (only 1,000) and unlock it on the 500-th try, on average.
it is just as
but on the other hand, all this password protection is either not working or done so that is almost as simple as this lock.
The serious password protections need admin rights, thus not of much use.
So you might and up with something like this pathetic joke being rigt solution at this time.
Otto Sykora
Basel, Switzerland
Otto:
Just a case. I lost an encrypted USB (I work for a state bank) with sensitive data in it in a usually conflictive region. Until now, I have no herd or have any news that such data has been known to anyone.
The encryptin sofware is really efective. Just trust.
Denis J Navas
as far as almost any encryption software uses algos like aes256, there is no systematic way of decryption known so far.
The software you mentioned is ok, it is not much different from what many people including our company uses, truecrypt.
Also for truecrypt, an explorer was existing before, but it was not done by truecrypt unfortunately but by some third party people. Unfortunately it is not maintained any more.
I tested the encryption sw you mentioned, it has the same snags as any other of the similar tools. No way to use it without driver to be installed, since also this is meant to be used as mounted drive. This needs admin rights, so of limited value for usb sticks.
The reader idea is fine, for TC it does work same way with older versions, but here for some reason I could not manage to make the reader(explorer) to work. For some reason, on my XP it did crash on start and could be only stopped killing it from task manager.
OK, one can use encryption which will not mount any virtual drives, just encrypts a folder with data. This can be done with anything, 7zip or toucan or winzip or whyt ever encrypts files. Then you have to decrypt the folder before use and not forget to encrypt it after use and delete the original. This does not need an drivers etc, but people do not want things like this, since they want something to work automatically and such is so far difficult to achieve in current OS.
I am using even a stick providing hardware based encryption. Unfortunately even this stick (pureII from disk2go) needs admin rights just for entering the password to the stick from windows. So again, it is of very limited use for portable application. It will work on my computers, since I know the admin pw there, it is useless on any computers with limited rights as public internet cafes or similar.
That is what I mean about all those atempts to make sticks 'password protected' by software solutions. I had one, this simply made the folders hidden und unhide them on entering a password. :-))) and still wanted some 15usd for it!
In such case, you have to admit, is the lock from our local gadget shop stil marginal better solution.
Otto Sykora
Basel, Switzerland