How to password-protect an external hard drive

[Bruno Terlingen]

Thank you gentleman, I will pass on this issue until some smart cookie invents an easy (as in U3) password protection system. I read Clint's words of warning loud 'n clear.
I will give my wife a piece of string to attach ex HDD to wristband.

Bruno.

[Mike Donovan]

Hi Bruno,

I use TrueCrypt on some things, but at work I have a program that I've used for a couple of years, and based on what you say you need, it fits the bill. It's a program made specifically for external drives - it's called Lockngo. It's drop-dead simple. However, you said "free" and unfortunately sometimes "free" means great security - but also great complexity. Lockngo is either $19 or $39 depending on your needs, but it was money well spent for me. I paid for simplicity and it couldn't get any easier.
Here's the link to Lockngo

Good luck!

[JohnReam]

Buy one of the drives with BUILT-IN security, portable hard drive provides government-grade protection against unauthorized access. The add-on later software solutions discissed above, I don't really know, but I'm pretty sure they are less secure and easier to crack.

Here's one of our favorites: Maxtor BlackArmor 320GB 2.5" External USB Hard Drive. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=230526578274

Google: Maxtor BlackArmor

[Bruno Terlingen]

Thank you Mike & John. I will certainly look at Mike's suggestion as our data is important to us and in a class room situation you want to be able to lock/unlock the ex HDD quickly without having to stuff around.

Bruno.

[alan.b]

Remember that some students use Linux and with that they can access what Windows will not allow.

I suggest encryption is the only way to go.

[Bruno Terlingen]

Thank you Alan for that reminder. In this particular instance most students hardly know about Windows, leave alone Linux and their derivatives. Indeed I am still looking for a simple-to-apply encryption method that my wife can use - similar to opening Windows when logging on.

Bruno.

[almost-a-genius]

I have been searching for a way to password protect an external hard drive for several weeks, and after a long search I found with out a doubt the best program out there. Encrypting is great if you have seven available hours to decrypt your files, however most people dont. Winmend folder is absolutely awesome. You simply download it, double click the desk top icon, type in your password, and it will give you the option to hide or unhide any folder on your external drive or computer. If you take your external hard drive and plug it into another computer THE FILE STILL REMAINS HIDDEN and it cannot be seen. When you want it to appear you simply double click the icon, type in your password, and click unhide. This program is sweet. It will remain hidden on ANY computer its plugged into, until you type in your password and click unhide. So easy to use, just google winmend folder hidden, download, and thats it. see ya

[catilley1092]

I have a couple of 4GB SanDisk Cruser Flash drives with the U3 protection, it works great! But there is a U3 removal tool published on the net, I'm not sure how it affects any stored files, but the U3 protection can be removed.

Clint's suggestion of TrueCrypt is the very best in protection (far superior to BitLocker), but as stated, it's not 100% portable. Many people, including myself, isn't going to create
an administrator account on our computers to allow one to open a TrueCrypt drive. That would be putting the computer owner at risk.

Transcend flash drives has their own encryption program that can be used. So do other brands.

If one is looking to keep it simple, there's still plenty of SanDisk U3 drives available at Amazon. There is a wide selection of sizes & prices to meet any budget.

http://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Cruzer.../dp/B000EWHEM6

Cat

[imastunned]

13/02/27 I have a Maxtor external hard drive that came with a wonderful password protector. The first thing that happened when I wanted to access any of my files was that a window opened asking for my password. If I forgot the password access to my files was not possible.
Unfortunately after ten years or so it finally bit the dust. Fortunately I had saved my files to two other external HD's a 'My Book' and also a 'Fantom' .
Neither of which came with password protection so I began looking for software to do the job for me. Something that I could maybe download directly to the external drives that would allow me to install my password of choice.
I can't find any such software anywhere.
I discovered that the makers of Fantom drives are completely and utterly inept as they were unable to help me in this matter.
I have now downloaded Axantum only to discover that all it's able to do is encrypt single files. It can't even encrypt a whole folder. So here again , it's not what I'm looking for.
Does anyone know of a site where I can find software that will perform in the same way my Maxtor did?
Seagate is no help in this matter either.
Any help will be greatly appreciated.

[Tinto Tech]

Imastunned, welcome to The Lounge.

Yes. As mentioned earlier in the thread, TrueCrypt can do what you want.

You do not need to install TrueCrypt, but can run it in a portable mode. Copy the TrueCrypt files to a Truecrypt Traveler disk and use them to access an encrypted TrueCrypt volume. The external hard drive can be secured and subsequently accessed from any PC by the person(s) who hold the TrueCrypt password. Read through the documentation carefully and you should be good to go.

Link to TrueCrypt Portable

[dogberry]

Lots of common programs, such as WinZip, have an 'encrypt' option. Look through some of your installed programs and see if you have any with the capability.

[magb]

External hard drives make it possible to mobilize large files like movies, music or software programs. Although external hard drives can be convenient, there is always a chance they could be lost or stolen. When your external hard drive goes missing, any documents or programs you have on the hard drive could be in serious jeopardy. Securing your external hard drive with a password will protect all of your files and programs from falling into the wrong hands.

•1
Plug your external hard drive into your computer through a USB port.

•2
Click the "Start" menu on the left-hand side of your computer screen and choose the "My Computer" icon from the right-hand side of the menu.

•3
Find your external hard drive's icon in the "My Computer" window. Double click on the icon.

•4
Right click on a blank area in the external hard drive's window. Choose the "New Folder" option from the gray menu that pops up. Label your new folder with a name appropriate to your external hard drive.

•5
Highlight all of your hard drive's windows and programs and drag them into the new folder you created.

•6
Right click on the folder and choose the option that reads "Properties." Scroll over to the "Sharing" option. Click the little box labeled "Make This Folder Private."

•7
Click on the "Ok" tab to apply the changes. Double click on the folder and enter your Windows Login password when prompted to gain access to the folder and all of the files inside.




i tried doing this but i could not click the "make this folder private" box. how can open up this option

[dogberry]

This is not strictly within the terms of the thread, but I might offer a quick reminder that modern drives, including or especially on laptops, are gigantic. This gives the ordinary user a very large amount of free space for pure storage.

[catilley1092]

Plenty of good suggestions here, however what if one needs to use that external drive to backup in PreOS Mode? Acronis True Image calls it something else, but it works the same. By pressing a key at startup (F11 for Acronis & Todo Workstation simply adds another boot entry), one can backup/restore their computer totally outside of the Windows enviornment, which is faster & preferred. No Windows processes to interfere with the backup/restore whatsoever.

How does one temporarily bypass the encryption to get the job done? Other then unencrypt the drive & re-encrypt it? This option won't work with TrueCrypt, as once unencrypted, it has to be formatted prior to re-encryption. However, BitLocker can do it & leave the data intact, but how does one access the external during the PreOS process? This is a legitmate concern, fortunately many paid backup apps offers it's own encryption system.

However, this is of little good to those who uses free backup apps. For those who are using the freebies, it's probably best NOT to encrypt those drives. The ones with your precious data, family pics, songs & movies, those are the ones to encrypt. For those who are running 7 Ultimate/8 Pro, BitLocker is included & your data is not harmed (as always, back these drives up prior to implementing an encryption system). It's best for these computers to have a TPM (accessed through the BIOS), however it can be done w/o it. It's just less prone to bugs if the physical chip is there.

As mentioned by myself & others above, TrueCrypt is available & free. Just remember, the drive HAS to be formatted first with the TrueCrypt setup. And when you're creating your security, be sure to follow the instructions closely. There comes a time when it's suggested to move the mouse around those keys for a couple of minutes (to make it even more crack proof). Don't skip this vital step. For most, TrueCrypt is probably as good as it comes, free or paid. The app could easily be licensed & sold for $50 per user if the author wanted to, it's that good. It's saved many accused criminals from being convicted in court. What is very securely & properly encrypted, no one can access. The exception to this is tyrant countries who waterboards (& uses other practices of torture) suspects to extort info. Even still, TrueCrypt offers a second "hidden" encrypted enclousure inside of a "dummy" one that usually useless info is on. Consider this when planning your hidden drive. If you are forced to give a password, make the crook think nothing's there, mabye some random photos or made up credit/debit card credentials.

Be sure to read the documentation very closely. For beginners, here's the place to start. Make small, simple encrypted containers or drives (such as a Flash drive) at first. Then practice mounting/unmounting (securing) it. These drives should not be simply yanked from the computer as many does their Flash drives (which shouldn't be done anyway).

http://www.truecrypt.org/docs/

Before long, with practice, most anyone can use TrueCrypt with ease.

Cat