I know this has been extensively discussed before, but bear with me ...
Prior to using PortableApps, I had a U3 stick. I had this configured so that when I inserted it, it prompted me for a password which, if entered correctly, allowed everything to start up normally. It's my understanding that without the correct password the drive could not be mounted/read - only reformatted. This all worked fine until U3 eventually became dead-in-the-water.
So, what I really want is something similar for PortableApps. I've read the discussions on TrueCrypt and FreeOTFE but it looks as though I have to:
1. Run an extra software package in the background.
2. Have two logical drives: an unencrypted one from which I run TrueCrypt or FreeOTFE and a second which contains the stuff I want encrypted (which would be my application data, but probably easier just to encrypt everything).
This is more complicated than the U3 password at startup thing.
So, am I wrong about this - can it be configured to be pretty much automatic and transparent (apart from requiring a password, of course)?
If not, are there any plans to develop something like this for PA.c?
Regards
Nick
[Moved from Beta Testing to General Discussion - mod Chris]
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>So, am I wrong about this - can it be configured to be pretty much automatic and transparent (apart from requiring a password, of course)?If not, are there any plans to develop something like this for PA.c?
Otto Sykora
Basel, Switzerland
> there might be something slightly helpful in development.
Is there anything more specific you can tell me at the moment? Obviously I'd be happy to participate in beta testing.
I generally use my PortableApps stick between two machines - both of which I own and have admin rights on. I suppose I could simply install and run the (non-portable) version of FreeOTFE on both machines and encrypt the entire stick. I guess that would come close to what I'm looking for though obviously I'd then no longer have the option of using the stick on other machines.
Regards
Nick
there is no real solution appart from known FreeOTFE , True crypt and similar.
There should be some utility doing probably not exactly what you want in some future versions of the suite, but this is with JTH, the boss here , so you might ask him.
As I said, the function as U3 can not be done so it works on all sticks, it will remain proprietary solution of each manufacturer, since this has to be programmed into the controller to certain extend and this has to be done as part of the manufacturing process. The whole fuctionality can not be inserted later when the controller runs, e.g. when it communicates with the rest of the world via usb bus allready. Some parts of the firmware involved are stored on the flash itself, they can be copied there later, but small part is configured into the controller chip itself. That is why some controller can be used for it and others can not.
One has also ask the question, what do you expect should happen when you enter a password or not. Should the whole function of the stick be stopped ? As I had a look on the U3, this is done i a way that the communication to the host system is such that all addresses on the 'disk' seem to have FFFF in it, still we can read it out, but gives no sense.
Others tend to encrypt the data itself prior storing them in the flash.
There are also funny password utils, there is one for Thunderbird AFAIK, this asks for password, but only to run the main application. It does not stop anyone reading or wiping what ever in your mails, the mails are still present human readable in plain text so what this is for I have no idea.
Otto Sykora
Basel, Switzerland