Anyone use encryption software on your externals?

J

jointhedarkside

Limp Gawd
Joined
Oct 2, 2005
Messages
242
I was wondering if anyone here has used any encryption software on your externals. A search on google came up with many hits, but do these actually work? Does anyone have any experience with this type of software and would like to recommend one? Just curious because these portable drives can be easily stolen/lost
 
www.truecrypt.org <<<--- The king of the hill. Everything you'd want to know can be found there in the documentation and FAQs. Seamless integration with Windows and Linux distros, fast, you'll never even notice it being there.
 
Wow ghost thanks, over the next few days I will definitely read over this, the documentation looks long. Perfect for an external (being free is the best aspect). Are there other recommendations or is this program the master of all encryption programs?

I was also thinking of other programs that just protect a file with a password. For example, I just want to password protect a folder, so that a person using my computer wont be able to get into it without a password. I share a computer with my siblings. A freebie program is definitely a plus. Thanks.
 
Just create seperate user accounts for each person and make theirs non admin accounts, so then they cant access each others document folders.


personally if your wanting to lock folders from your sibling's, you don't have a very trusting relationship, unless they have that tendancy to delete things :)
 
At this point in time, TrueCrypt is the encryption software for a variety of reasons: ease of use, works on Windows and Linux, handles external media very well without issue, and of course, it's free. :)

If you're on Windows, there's always the EFS (Encrypting File System) built into 2K/XP/XP x64/2K3/Vista, but honestly I think TrueCrypt is easier to use across the board.

As for protecting folders or files, that's really what permissions are for in the native NTFS filesystem in Windows (Linux has permissions too, obviously, as does every modern filesystem and OS. If you spend some time learning about permissions, and make sure your own account has a password on it, as well as any other accounts, you can then set permissions on your data files, program files, music, videos, pics - anything at all really - and the other users, even if they're logged into the machine at the same time, can't get access to your "stuff."

Hope this helps...
 
Another nod for truecrypt. I use it on my work and personal stuff. Way to easy to leave a USB thumbdrive (or external HDD) at a customer/partner site.

Just don't lose you key (grin).
 
Steve Gibson has done an episode on Truecrypt, I suggest you check it out at grc.com
 
Another vote for Truecrypt. Have a small partition on my flash drive set up with two encrypted containers for plausible deniability.
 
gjvrieze said:
Steve Gibson has done an episode on Truecrypt, I suggest you check it out at grc.com
Click to expand...

Anything Steve Gibson does is reason enough to stay away from it. He's a sensationalist at best. TrueCrypt doesn't deserve to be sullied by him :eek:
 
Hey now... SpinRite... that utility I've been using for nearly a decade now and of several thousand hard drives I've used it on for restore operations, only 5 or so have been lost because of mechanical failure that even SpinRite can't help with.

SpinRite is NOT a data recovery tool like so many people erroneously believe, it's a tool to restore a hard drive and the platters to a usable state so you can then do data recovery on it.

But it's one of the very few tools in my little bag of tricks that was worth every freakin' penny when I bought it so long ago, and v6 just makes it that much better with NTFS support finally.

Yes, he's an oddball, I'll admit that, but the guy does make some great utilities by and large.
 
bbz_Ghost said:
Hey now... SpinRite... that utility I've been using for nearly a decade now and of several thousand hard drives I've used it on for restore operations, only 5 or so have been lost because of mechanical failure that even SpinRite can't help with.

SpinRite is NOT a data recovery tool like so many people erroneously believe, it's a tool to restore a hard drive and the platters to a usable state so you can then do data recovery on it.
Click to expand...
Decide for yourself. Look at his list of features and decide if it's worth $89 for a program that reads all the blocks of your hard drive. I don't think so, personally, but you're welcome to spend your money how you want.
 
truecrypt is great i just wish there was some way to run it on guest computers without admin access.
 
Like I said, I've used SpinRite for a long, loonnng time and it's never failed to restore a drive to working condition as long as it's mechanically sound. Even my own personal "Deathstar" IBM 60GXP years ago. Hit it with SpinRite doing a level 5 and it "saved" the drive from that implosion so many people are familiar with and gave me another 6+ months of usage.

It's not your ordinary everyday "disk tool" or "block reader;" it's a lot more than that. But, as you said, it's my money (actually the company I half-owned paid for it when I first started using it) so...

And I already said he was an oddball. Even oddballs get a fleeting moment of pure genius sometimes... his was SpinRite. The rest I'll leave to perpetuity.

</sorry_for_the_off-topic>
 
bbz_Ghost said:
Like I said, I've used SpinRite for a long, loonnng time and it's never failed to restore a drive to working condition as long as it's mechanically sound. Even my own personal "Deathstar" IBM 60GXP years ago. Hit it with SpinRite doing a level 5 and it "saved" the drive from that implosion so many people are familiar with and gave me another 6+ months of usage.

It's not your ordinary everyday "disk tool" or "block reader;" it's a lot more than that. But, as you said, it's my money (actually the company I half-owned paid for it when I first started using it) so...

And I already said he was an oddball. Even oddballs get a fleeting moment of pure genius sometimes... his was SpinRite. The rest I'll leave to perpetuity.

</sorry_for_the_off-topic>
Click to expand...

I have to agree 100%, I use it at work, on 100s of pcs a month and it is amazing, it will fix a few dead sectors, and the machine will go from a Windows XP install that will not boot, to fully bootable, then you save the customers data and they love it... I found it hard to believe how it could work too, until I tried, you people, who do not try things before flaming them, drive me nuts, I hate almost every piece of software that I have tried and will say so time and again, but I repeat, software that I have tried....
thank you so much bbz_Ghost, I like people like who give a good product good reviews...
I am not connected with the TWiT gang or Steve in any way for the record..
Also, on the Truecrypt episode, Gibson goes into what security measures that TC uses, so it is a great listen for anyone who wants/needs to know about true security....
 
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