Recommend a good program to password protect a flash drive?

November 10, 2004 9:35 AM

Can anyone recommend a good program to password protect a flash drive? I see all sorts with encryption and folder hiding, etc., but all I really want is for a password input box to pop up when I plug in the USB drive, denying access to the files until it is entered. Needs to work on XP/98/2000 so that I can easily move between machines. Also, cheap is good. This shouldn't be as difficult to find as it seems to be!
posted by rushmc to computers & internet (13 comments total)

Surely it needs to work on all operating systems, otherwise someone else could plug it into a machine running something different and access your data. I suspect that encryption is your best bet.
posted by Nick Jordan at 9:57 AM on November 10, 2004

What Nick said. There's a reason the product you're looking for doesn't exist: it's a bad idea.
posted by jjg at 11:08 AM on November 10, 2004

There are no elegant encryption solutions so far as I have seen, so that's out. I've seen a number of programs that can password protect and/or hide a folder, but don't know which are good or exactly how this is more cross-platform than what I really want.

What do you people with flash drives actually USE? As easy as the things are to lose, people have got to be concerned about protecting their data.
posted by rushmc at 11:18 AM on November 10, 2004

This article nicely summarizes the difficulties associated with security on USB drives. The Sony biometric drive linked may be close to what you're looking for, though I doubt there's a 98 driver for it.

As easy as the things are to lose, people have got to be concerned about protecting their data.

There are lots of small items in our lives for which the consequences would be very bad if we lost them. You just have to treat your flash drives the way you would treat your wallet, your cell phone, your house keys, etc.
posted by jjg at 11:28 AM on November 10, 2004

You just have to treat your flash drives the way you would treat your wallet

This, oddly enough, is exactly why I recently bought a 512meg PQi "intelligent stick". It's crazy-small, and actually comes with a little holder dealie that's the size of a credit card (a little thicker).

So my flash drive is in my wallet. Handy. The security software that comes with the device provides password-protected partitions. However: the utility must be installed on each host computer or you won't be able to access the secured partition. Presumably one could put the utility on the non-protected partition, and thereby be able to install it on your any host PC. Mac/Unix people seem to be out of luck.

The software is here -- I suppose there's a tiny chance it may also work on your flash drive.
posted by aramaic at 12:10 PM on November 10, 2004

You just have to treat your flash drives the way you would treat your wallet.

that's why mine's stuck on my keyring. i hate having more than two keys on my keyring (so i don't) but after being unable to locate the flash drive for a very panicked half-hour, i put it on my keyring anyway.

it's also got my name & address on it. there's "sensitive" information in the files, but i'm more concerned that i'd never get it back than that someone would look at my client letters if i lost it. not that it wouldn't, technically, be a huge disaster if someone did look at my client letters, but the practical impact of losing them forever would be worse than the practical impact of some grubby stranger browsing through my files.
posted by crush-onastick at 12:21 PM on November 10, 2004

Make sure you use something like AES and you'll be fine.

I use AxCrypt on mine.
posted by holloway at 2:04 PM on November 10, 2004

AxCrypt looks like it might be better (more user friendly, less intrusive) than the Cruzer software I have. Am I correct in thinking I can install it right on the drive and then it will only allow access to files/folders that one encrypts with it via password entry?

(I'd have emailed you with this question, holloway, but you don't list an address.)
posted by rushmc at 3:34 PM on November 10, 2004

the way i've been doing it, is that i have two files on my flash drive at all times: the axcrypt installer, and my encrypted zip file containing all the data. axcrypt does use some registry settings, so installing to the flash drive may not work. that's why i just keep the installer on the flash drive.
posted by escher at 4:15 PM on November 10, 2004

Yeah that's how I do it. It can run right off the flash drive, no installation.

AES is a respected crypto standard so there'll be lots of other tools around the spec too.
posted by holloway at 4:50 PM on November 10, 2004

Although it won't do the windows integration stuff, of course.
posted by holloway at 4:57 PM on November 10, 2004

Sigh...that's just what I need to avoid, since I need to be able to use it on LOTS of different computers, including those at net cafes where I can't install anything to the hard drive.

Back to the drawing board.
posted by rushmc at 6:22 PM on November 10, 2004

Oh it can still run off the flash drive, and you can decypt to the flash, you just won't get the right click menu windows integration.

I don't think you could get the right-click menu do that without some kind of installation.
posted by holloway at 6:37 PM on November 10, 2004