If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below. |
|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
#1
|
|||
|
|||
USB drive
I bought a USB thumb drive (Verbatim) with a "privacy zone", thinking
it would provide some modest protection for confidential data if the device was lost. However, it seems to require an executable "v-safe 100.exe" to be installed on the hard drive. This seems very odd. Furthermore, I am at a loss to understand just what it is doing - encryption isn't mentioned in the manual, but niether is anything else substantive about what is happening. The manual does say that administrative rights are required on any computer used to access the drive. Is that inevitable with a device like this? Can anyone suggest an alternative that is a bit more transparent and portable? I was hoping for something that could be plugged into any USB port and read, but still required some password or similar to view the data. It needn't be 128-bit or anything like that. Daniel Feenberg feenberg is at nber dotte org |
#3
|
|||
|
|||
USB drive
Hi,
I also just got a usb drive that has this v-zone 100 thing and was looking for more details when i came across this post. I'm still trying to figure out what the deal is with this software, but i do have some suggestions for you. 1st, definitely check out truecrypt its is very secure. However it requires admin privileges (or a previous install) so that cuts down portability ALOT meaning if you want to use it in a internet cafe or something its a no-go but if you want to use it on your friends computer and they give you access its no prob. What might be the easiest answer for you is to use something like 7-zip or another encrypting compression program that you can have the exe on the usb. It gets around the admin issues and basically provides you with a passworded protection if you lost your drive. There are other extenuating security issues involved (which is why truecrypt doesn't have a working solution for a truly portable condition) basically, it comes down to once you have extracted/decrypted your data pretty much all security is lost due to potential compromises of the "guest" pc like a keystroke logger or any reasonable data recovery software. Its basically fairly hard to be sure that your file is really deleted from where you put its decrypted data while you use it and if you can delete it, there are still some traces in other parts of the OS that people might be able to access it. So, generally speaking i think a passworded 7zip file works for most people, but still know that its not 100% secure and you'll have to weigh that against how sensitive or important your data is. Good luck, Ryan Arno Wagner wrote: Previously wrote: I bought a USB thumb drive (Verbatim) with a "privacy zone", thinking it would provide some modest protection for confidential data if the device was lost. However, it seems to require an executable "v-safe 100.exe" to be installed on the hard drive. This seems very odd. Furthermore, I am at a loss to understand just what it is doing - encryption isn't mentioned in the manual, but niether is anything else substantive about what is happening. The manual does say that administrative rights are required on any computer used to access the drive. Is that inevitable with a device like this? No. But a non-software solution is going to be very expensive. I would also strongly advise you to not trust this thing. Can anyone suggest an alternative that is a bit more transparent and portable? I was hoping for something that could be plugged into any USB port and read, but still required some password or similar to view the data. It needn't be 128-bit or anything like that. Daniel Feenberg feenberg is at nber dotte org Have a look at http://www.truecrypt.org/. Still software, but far more trustworthy. I am not sure whether you have to install it on the computer, but the way to do it would be to have the software on the USB key and the confiential data in one large file there as well. Arno |
#4
|
|||
|
|||
USB drive
wrote in message oups.com... I bought a USB thumb drive (Verbatim) with a "privacy zone", thinking it would provide some modest protection for confidential data if the device was lost. However, it seems to require an executable "v-safe 100.exe" to be installed on the hard drive. This seems very odd. Furthermore, I am at a loss to understand just what it is doing - encryption isn't mentioned in the manual, but niether is anything else substantive about what is happening. The manual does say that administrative rights are required on any computer used to access the drive. Is that inevitable with a device like this? Can anyone suggest an alternative that is a bit more transparent and portable? I was hoping for something that could be plugged into any USB port and read, but still required some password or similar to view the data. It needn't be 128-bit or anything like that. Daniel Feenberg feenberg is at nber dotte org I have a San Disk Cruzer that has U3 security built-in. It works pretty good and doesn't require anything to be installed on the hard drive. This is the model I have: http://www.sandisk.com/Products/Item...lack__New.aspx Be advised that U3 security only works on Windows 2000 and XP OSs. YMMV. Art |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
Changing Harddrives whilst PC includes a RAID Array | D | Storage (alternative) | 10 | November 24th 05 11:05 PM |
Hard Drive Temperature | Nehmo | General | 36 | October 27th 05 12:35 AM |
Hard Drive Temperature | Nehmo | Storage (alternative) | 37 | October 27th 05 12:35 AM |
Norton Ghost - Clone Won't Work | jimbo | Homebuilt PC's | 70 | November 15th 04 01:56 AM |
FDISK, HDD #s, don't know how to install two HDDs. | sunslight | Storage (alternative) | 14 | October 29th 03 07:56 PM |