Anyone here run FreeOTFE off their flash drive? How does it compare to TC?
It says on the site:
"Highly portable - Not only does FreeOTFE offer "portable mode", eliminating the need for it to be installed before use, it also offers FreeOTFE Explorer - a system which allows FreeOTFE volumes to be accessed not only without installing any software, but also on PCs where no administrator rights are available. This makes it ideal for use (for example) with USB flash drives, and when visiting Internet Cafés (AKA Cybercafés), where PCs are available for use, but only as a "standard" user.
Sounds pretty good because being able to run on limited accounts is really nice.
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If you want access without admin rights, you can use TCExplorer from http://sourceforge.net/projects/tcexplorer/
The Truecrypt devs refuse to bring this functionality into the mainstream product since they view it as a security risk.
Both explorer products have identical, and significant limitations. From a technical perspective, they can only access the container if the filesystem on it is FAT formatted, which may or may not matter to you. From a security perspective, you can only access your files by copying them onto an unencrypted area, which means that you may then need to take extra precautions to fully erase the plain text copies, or you'll be leaking the very data you're trying to keep secret.
I trialled both products a while back, but I can't now remember why I settled on Truecrypt at the time.
FreeOTFE and FreeOTFE Explorer are *very* good programs - and something that *definiatly* should be included in the main portableapps releases (it already has a portableapps version!)
The closest truecrypt gets is tcexplorer - which *doesn't* *work* with later versions of Truecrypt - unlike FreeOTFE Explorer which is activly maintained.
The precautions that should be taken wrt using these applications are something that the user should be told about - for example, using Eraser to overwrite extracted copies of files. The user should then be allowed to make their own, *fully* *informed* decision as to using them, as opposed to having one way of working foisted on them.
After all - who's data is it?
Almost. TCExplorer requires the containers to be in the older format, but provided you can arrange that, it works just file alongside current versions of Truecrypt.
...which is why all users have strong passwords, none of them ever write them down on postits stuck to the monitor, everyone uses different passwords for each website they visit, I could go on and on and on.
In an ideal world, it would be possible to trust users to make considered decisions about data security, and maintain appropriate levels of safety and confidentiality. In reality, far too high a percentage of users are idiots. The fact that they are "using" a security app means that they are safe, even if they are using it in a highly unsafe manner.
All too often, someone else's. For example, here in the UK, in the recent past, we have had data get leaked through incorrectly used or un-used crypto including the full drivers-licence data for over 10 million adults, or, if you prefer something really juicy, the names, addresses, ages, school details, guardianship records of several hundred thousand young children.
There are two sets of secure data on devices I manage. My own personal contacts, passwords, bank data, and, separately, highly confidential data belonging to customers, the leakage of which could cause disastrous results for the company I work for.
We don't trust users to make sensible decisions. We enforce security policy centrally. We simply can't take the risk.
So, while I understand and, for myself, agree with your point that it should be possible to work how you choose to, not to be restricted arbitrarily, I can also totally see the viewpoint of the TrueCrypt developers, whose goal is to provide the best security solution, not necessarily the most convenient for a lightweight/hobbyist user.
Well, there is one little problem with FreeOTFE compared to TrueCrypt. The drivers used to access the encrypted volumes on-the-fly are not signed. That doesn't cause a problem in Windows XP, but on Vista and 7 the drivers signature is mandatory or the drivers won't be loaded, therefore breaking the on-the-fly access.
TrueCrypt drivers are signed, so it will works on Vista.
I have an 8GB usb. It is formatted with NTFS, to get an 7.8 GB container. The container itself has to be formatted as FAT. The other way, it takes too long for FreeOTFE to format its container.
But, follow John Haller recomendation. Run from a cmd windows an instruction to disable the recording of property rights. Do a search in the forum, to get on the instructions. It worked for me.
I synchronize daily with no problems at all, between my XP Laptop and my Vista work equipment, without ANY problem at all.
Very good software. Also, it has more fine grained control for those to know what are doing. I stick to the default selection.
Denis J. Navas