Password Protect Flash Drive

October 30, 2012 4:04 PM

Is there a free downloadable mac program to password protect my entire usb flash drive? I've already tried TrueCrypt and using a .dmg with Disk Utility.
posted by CarlyH to computers & internet (5 answers total)

What are you trying to do with the program that TrueCrypt and Disk Utility are not doing for you? Is it ease of use you're after?
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 4:24 PM on October 30, 2012

Whenever I use my usb, I want to have to type in a password before I can see the data on it.
posted by CarlyH at 4:47 PM on October 30, 2012

If you create an encrypted dmg file with Disk Utility, you can double-click on it and it will present a dialog box asking for a password.

If you want this file to be opened up automatically when the flash disk is mounted, you might use an application like Task3 or write a folder-action-triggered AppleScript that opens the encrypted image file, triggered to go off once the drive ("folder") is mounted.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 5:10 PM on October 30, 2012

Seconding encrypted dmg if you only need it on OS X, Truecrypt otherwise.

Either of these should do what you want, and are the standard solutions.
posted by zippy at 5:32 PM on October 30, 2012

MacWorld has a article on using FileVault 2 (which comes with Lion or later) to encrypt an external drive, including flash drives. The article also mentions some potential issues (e.g. backward compatibility)
posted by blob at 6:31 PM on October 30, 2012