External Hard Drive Storage - Security / Software

[Ben]

Hi

I've recently purchased a 500 gig external usb iomega hard drive and
was wondering is there any security / software that people can
recommend.

I am looking for the type of system such as the U3 system that they
have on ScanDisk storage. I have a ScanDisk Cruzer 2 gig usb key and
it has the U3 launcher with great password protection and a range of
software you can install to be run off the disk.

Freeware would be ideal but if the software does the right job i
wouldnt mind parting with the few quid.

Thanks

Ben

 

[Arno Wagner]

Hi

I've recently purchased a 500 gig external usb iomega hard drive and
was wondering is there any security / software that people can
recommend.

I am looking for the type of system such as the U3 system that they
have on ScanDisk storage. I have a ScanDisk Cruzer 2 gig usb key and
it has the U3 launcher with great password protection and a range of
software you can install to be run off the disk.

So you are not interested in real recurity, just some simple,
maybe kid-proof password scheme? AFAIK U3 does not encrypt
and is basically broken...

Freeware would be ideal but if the software does the right job i
wouldnt mind parting with the few quid.

Since U3 is broken, the question is what you really want.

Arno

 

[Ben]

So you are not interested in real recurity, just some simple,
maybe kid-proof password scheme? AFAIK U3 does not encrypt
and is basically broken...


Since U3 is broken, the question is what you really want.

Arno

Im looking to have a similar system as U3 with regards to the software
install onto the disc and the fact that it has password protection.
Just want to know what people are using on theirs so i can download
and run the same. Yes i want something secure but its not the end of
the world of some little chinese kid half way across the globe can
crack my external HD

Answers on postcards...
ben

 

[Arno Wagner]

Im looking to have a similar system as U3 with regards to the software
install onto the disc and the fact that it has password protection.
Just want to know what people are using on theirs so i can download
and run the same. Yes i want something secure but its not the end of
the world of some little chinese kid half way across the globe can
crack my external HD

Ok, that is difficult. The problem is that U3 does the password thing
actually in hardware and the U3 flash drives have an extra
microcontroller and a second partition for this. You cannot easily
replicate this with a harddisk.

One thing you can use is truecrupt (free software, http://www.truecrypt.org/).
It does require installation though and its security-level will bve
overkill.

Arno

 

[Ben]

Ok, that is difficult. The problem is that U3 does the password thing
actually in hardware and the U3 flash drives have an extra
microcontroller and a second partition for this. You cannot easily
replicate this with a harddisk.

One thing you can use is truecrupt (free software,http://www.truecrypt.org/).
It does require installation though and its security-level will bve
overkill.

Arno- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Thanks for your reply

By overkill do you mean the simple transfer of files will incur a
password prompt 20 times?

Thanks

 

[Arno Wagner]

Thanks for your reply

By overkill do you mean the simple transfer of files will incur a
password prompt 20 times?

Hehe. No. I mean that you get a very high security level.
As far as I understand you ''mount'' a volume once with truecrypt and
then you can access it just as a regular volume until you remove it
again.

This ''ask password very often to make the user believe it is secure''
is a Microsoft-only insanity.

Arno

 

[bealoid]

Hi

I've recently purchased a 500 gig external usb iomega hard drive and
was wondering is there any security / software that people can
recommend.

http://www.truecrypt.org/

I think you may have a problem with permissions if you try to use it on
somone else's computer.

 

[Ben]

http://www.truecrypt.org/

I think you may have a problem with permissions if you try to use it on
somone else's computer.

Thanks for your replies

As in truecrypt's security will only be associated with my computer?

I wouldve thought that this would have been a simple procedure with
lots of people using external hard drives but google doesnt throw up a
lot either!

Ben

 

[Arno Wagner]

Thanks for your replies

As in truecrypt's security will only be associated with my computer?

I don't think so. That would, for example, make the drive unusable if
your main drive crashed. A grave design error. AFAIK truecrypt
will work if you know the passphrase for your drive.

I wouldve thought that this would have been a simple procedure with
lots of people using external hard drives but google doesnt throw up a
lot either!

People are mostly ignorant about security, so it is not a
large market.

Arno