External hard disk lock up (how to?)

Francesco · 07-26-2005, 11:30 PM

Hi, guys.
A while ago I bought an external hard disk which I use primarily at my office.
But I worry that anyone can plug it to his/her USB port and easily read anything I have stored in there. How could this be avoided?

EDIT: from the description of a Maxtor external hard drive:

Quote:

- Drive Lock Security

Maxtor offers a new Drive Lock feature for greater data protection. This is a password protection scheme that can keep unauthorized users from viewing sensitive data. Once the original user switches off the computer or the drive is disconnected from the system, access to the drive will be denied until the right user name and password are provided. This is something extremely important for professionals and power users where security is necessary.

That's exactly what I'm talking about.

hacker · 07-27-2005, 01:14 AM

It sounds OS-specific, and probably requires a specialized driver.

I prefer to use dm-crypt on my volumes, which works great and has very strong encryption, moreso than "just a password".

Francesco · 07-27-2005, 11:29 AM

Thanks, hacker, but I don't use Linux. Is there a similar program for Windows?

Alexander Turcic · 07-27-2005, 12:06 PM

If you want to encrypt your full harddrive, and trust an open-source solution rather something closed-source, I recommend TrueCrypt for Windows. It can either create encrypted container files on your harddrive or encrypt on partition-level.

I wrote some more on encrypting harddisks on Windows machines here.

Francesco · 07-27-2005, 09:55 PM

Thanks a lot!

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07-27-2005, 01:14 AM	#2
hacker Technology Mercenary Posts: 617 Karma: 2561 Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: East Lyme, CT Device: Direct Neural Implant	It sounds OS-specific, and probably requires a specialized driver. I prefer to use dm-crypt on my volumes, which works great and has very strong encryption, moreso than "just a password".

07-27-2005, 11:29 AM	#3
Francesco Aficionado Posts: 391 Karma: 710 Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Denver, CO, USA Device: Nexus 7, Kindle Touch	Thanks, hacker, but I don't use Linux. Is there a similar program for Windows?

07-27-2005, 12:06 PM	#4
Alexander Turcic Fully Converged Posts: 18,171 Karma: 14021202 Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Switzerland Device: Too many to count here.	If you want to encrypt your full harddrive, and trust an open-source solution rather something closed-source, I recommend TrueCrypt for Windows. It can either create encrypted container files on your harddrive or encrypt on partition-level. I wrote some more on encrypting harddisks on Windows machines here.

07-27-2005, 09:55 PM	#5
Francesco Aficionado Posts: 391 Karma: 710 Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Denver, CO, USA Device: Nexus 7, Kindle Touch	Thanks a lot!

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