Formatting USB flashdrive

[Bill]

I believe that Win XP Pro has the facility to encrypt folders and/or the
files within them, but only if the hard drive uses NTFS rather than FAT32 -
is that correct?

If it is, can a USB flashdrive (like this one, for instance
http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/116102) be formatted as NTFS to allow
folder encryption?

Cheers,

Bill.

 

[John Wunderlich]

I believe that Win XP Pro has the facility to encrypt folders
and/or the files within them, but only if the hard drive uses NTFS
rather than FAT32 - is that correct?

If it is, can a USB flashdrive (like this one, for instance
http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/116102) be formatted as NTFS to
allow folder encryption?

I believe that you can do this. But beware that the Encrypting File
System (EFS) and your encrypted data will most likely be tied to one
computer. You will have difficulty moving your memory stick from one
machine to another. Also, Make sure you read the following reference
and backup your Certificate *before* using EFS or, guaranteed, you will
lose your data when Windows crashes one day.

"Best practices for the Encrypting File System"
<http://support.microsoft.com/kb/223316/en-us>

Having said that, I would highly recommend that, instead, you use the
freeware "Truecrypt" over EFS to encrypt your data to your USB
flashdrive. It has a "traveler mode" so that you can access your
encrypted data from different machines (even securely over a network)
and it will work with FAT32 filesystems just as well as NTFS file
systems. It also works with Win2000 / XP Home / XP Pro / Vista /
Linux.

<http://www.truecrypt.org>

HTH,
John

 

[Patrick Keenan]

I believe that Win XP Pro has the facility to encrypt folders and/or the
files within them, but only if the hard drive uses NTFS rather than FAT32 -
is that correct?

If it is, can a USB flashdrive (like this one, for instance
http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/116102) be formatted as NTFS to allow
folder encryption?

Cheers,

Bill.

You are correct, EFS encryption is only available on NTFS drives and this
isn't availble on XP Home.

The encrypted files are NOT easily portable - they can't be used on other
systems without importing the originating account certificates - and you
*absolutely must* complete the invocation of EFS by backing up the account
certificates. Otherwise, following many events, you will permanently lose
access to the data. A crash and reinstall is all it takes, or somebody
helping you by changing your password from the Admin account when you forgot
it. Remembering the password won't help.

Be sure that you have made yourself fully aware of EFS implications before
using it. Test the encryption, and when you test, be sure that you have
an unencrypted copy of the data. And be sure that you have the account
certificates backed up, and have tested those too.

If you're seeking portable data security, there are probably better ideas
than EFS.

Also, be aware that USB drives do have limited lives and are known to
suddenly fail. Have backups.

HTH
-pk

 

[Bill]

You are correct, EFS encryption is only available on NTFS drives and this
isn't availble on XP Home.

The encrypted files are NOT easily portable - they can't be used on other
systems without importing the originating account certificates - and you
*absolutely must* complete the invocation of EFS by backing up the account
certificates. Otherwise, following many events, you will permanently
lose access to the data. A crash and reinstall is all it takes, or
somebody helping you by changing your password from the Admin account when
you forgot it. Remembering the password won't help.

Be sure that you have made yourself fully aware of EFS implications before
using it. Test the encryption, and when you test, be sure that you have
an unencrypted copy of the data. And be sure that you have the account
certificates backed up, and have tested those too.

If you're seeking portable data security, there are probably better ideas
than EFS.

Also, be aware that USB drives do have limited lives and are known to
suddenly fail. Have backups.

HTH
-pk

Thanks John and Patrick, very helpful.

Bill