My Flash Drive Contains My Life –
I don’t know about you, but I carry a flash drive in my pocket all the time. Back in the “old days” (two years ago in computer time) I was so excited about my new flash drive. It had a capacity of 256K. Due to the size the amount of information it could hold was limited. Well now I am the proud owner of an 8GB drive. I am able to carry literally hundreds of documents and applications everywhere I go. Now thanks to PortableApps.com I even use my flash drive as a mini-computer.
What if I Lose My Flash Drive –
All of this fantastic technology comes at a price. I now have my entire digital life on a small piece of plastic smaller than a pack of gum. It is not a matter of IF I lose it, it is a matter of WHEN I will lose it. I used to be afraid of the loss of this device. My portable drive falling into the hands of someone else is the kind of things horror stories are made of. I fear NO more thanks to encryption. The drive I carry in my pocket cost me less than $10.00 and if I lose it, I can just go buy another one.
I Am Not Worried –
My program of choice for encrypting my flash drive is TrueCrypt (http://www.truecrypt.org/). This free open source disk encryption program is the best out there. TrueCrypt is fairly easy to use, and comes with good documentation and many features. Plus it meets my main criteria, it is FREE. I do have a couple of suggestions on how to set it up for ease of use.
Do Your Homework -
The TrueCrypt website is set up well, they have a great Documentation Area.
I do not wish to explain everything to you. Your first assignment is to Download TrueCrypt and take a look at the Beginners Tutorial on how to create a TrueCrypt Container.
Setting Up Your Flash Drive -
I recommend that you don’t encrypt your entire flash drive. You just need to create a container large enough to hold your valuable data. On my 8GB drive I created a 6GB container and leave the remaining 2GB available for quick file transfer that doesn’t require encryption.
Extract or copy the TrueCrypt files to the root directory of your flash drive. You need to now execute TrueCrypt and create a Container on your drive (call it whatever you wish) using the size guidelines I outlined above. The tutorial give the details. Once the volume is created go to the Tools menu and go to Traveler Disk Setup. Create the traveler disk files on your flash drive and specify auto-mount. Point it to the volume that you just created.
Mission Accomplished -
You now have a flash drive that contains a secure area for your files. Because you selected the auto-mount option it should mount itself once you insert the drive into your USB port. Don’t forget your password or you will be out of luck. Nevertheless your files are safe, and WHEN you lose your Flash Drive it won’t matter. The files on the encrypted volume cannot be read. The only thing that can be done is a re-format of the drive.
Good luck, and please use the comments section to let me know what you think of TrueCrypt, or if you have any difficulties.
-Loren
http://www.theteachingbox.com
P.S. These instructions are for the Windows version of the program. I have not tried the Mac OS X or Linux version, although I am certain they are very similar. Be sure to stop by my site for other tutorials and technology assistance.
April 3rd, 2009 at 7:29 pm
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