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USB drive encryption
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USB drive encryption

zhuanyizhuanyi Member
edited October 2012 in Help

I have a USB drive with Dropbox portable installed on it and since it has some of the data that I'd prefer not to post on public, I would like to know if there is any good encryption software that you could recommend. I use mostly Windows and on some of the machines that I need to plug in the USB drive, I do not have admin rights, so I would need the encryption to run without admin rights and without installation.

I have checked out freeotfe but it seems it is having some trouble running on Windows 7 64 bit as the drivers are not signed, also it needs to format the drive to encrypt it, which is something I do not want to do as I have other files on the USB drive as well.

Comments

  • PatrickPatrick Member
    edited October 2012

    Truecrypt!

    It's one of the best out there, http://www.truecrypt.org/
    Create a small non-encrypted space with true crypt portable and an encrypted space which can be opened up after authentication

    Thanked by 1tux
  • @StormVZ said: Truecrypt!

    Unfortunately I think you will need admin rights to even open the USB drives with Truecrypt.

  • @zhuanyi ah yeah the device driver would need to be installed first
    http://www.truecrypt.org/docs/?s=non-admin-users

    Not sure, gl finding something!

  • @StormVZ said: gl finding something!

    Thanks!

  • Admin rights are pretty much always needed to do something high up near the kernel or device drivers (full disk crypto).

    Check this out:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_disk_encryption_software

    Before full drive crypto became all the rage we used individual file encryption. What comes to mind it PGP, OpenPGP, GnuPG.

    Have to be front ends and scripts out there for those to bulk encrypt files and deal with crypto at file open times.

    Using one of those almost certainly will not require admin rights.

    As for portable app versions of these, OpenPGP and GnuPG likely have portable versions out there. Have fun looking for them :)

    Thanked by 1zhuanyi
  • SpeedBusSpeedBus Member, Host Rep

    There are a few others,
    http://www.axantum.com/axcrypt/
    http://www.aescrypt.com/

    Both are opensource..

  • nocomnocom Member
    edited October 2012

    My recommendation is Secure Star DriveCrypt 1344 Bit Disk Encryption , Windows 7 compatible Version Released
    Not free but worth every penny.
    From SecureStar:
    ''With its Traveller modus functionality, DriveCrypt is the ideal solution to encrypt USB disks and Pen drives without needing to install the software on the computer''
    Full disk encryption my tip.

    Thanked by 1zhuanyi
  • jhjh Member
    edited October 2012

    I can recommend IronKey - www.ironkey.com - sometimes you can get them cheap on eBay - it's a stick with hardware encryption and physical protection.

    Thanked by 1zhuanyi
  • @nocom said: Not free but worth every penny

    Price is more than what I paid for the USB key...kinda expensive :)

  • @jhadley said: I can recommend IronKey - www.ironkey.com

    Have too many keys floating around already so I told myself not to get another one :)

  • joepie91joepie91 Member, Patron Provider

    @nocom said: My recommendation is Secure Star DriveCrypt 1344 Bit Disk Encryption , Windows 7 compatible Version Released

    Not free but worth every penny.
    From SecureStar:
    ''With its Traveller modus functionality, DriveCrypt is the ideal solution to encrypt USB disks and Pen drives without needing to install the software on the computer''
    Full disk encryption my tip.

    I would not recommend encryption software that does not allow you to see the source.

  • nocomnocom Member
    edited October 2012

    @zhuanyi said: Price is more than what I paid for the USB key...kinda expensive :)

    Cheap solution is unique U3 SanDisk usb stick (i have 5of this) auto encrypt with internal personal software inside


    Old product
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U3
    New product- if Microsoft get out from BlueScreenOfDeath (joke)
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/StartKey

    Also from sandisk SanDisk SecureAccess software

    Anyone have this

  • If you use Windows 7 Ultimate or Enterprise, you can enable bitlocker (right click over the Usb drive icon, then select Enable Bitlocker).

  • Axcrypt is pretty good, I've been using that for encrypting data for a while.

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