How do I encrypt a whole (external) USB harddisc (under Wi..

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.win2000.general,comp.os.ms-windows.misc,microsoft.public.windowsxp.general,microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support (More info?)

Occasionally I connect an external USB harddisc to my computer in order to backup serveral
directories. This works fine. However I would like to encrypt the whole USB harddisc?

What is the best solutions?

I would like to connect to the USB harddisc under Win2000 and WinXP.
The Harddisc is NTFS formatted.

Is Microsofts EFS encrytion system stable?

What other tools are recommendable (under Windows)?
What about BestCrypt and DriveCrypt?

The most important criterias for me are stability and reliability.

Speed and costs are second order.

Frank

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

EFS has more pitfalls than it returns in benefits. You
can use it, but you have to understand saving certificates
and license keys. Lost keys/certificates is a fairly common
issue that appears in XP-Gen. EFS is very secure, so much
so that many times even the original user can't access it.

Can't comment on other 3rd-party tools.

For basic secure backups, you can use the native Zip and
secure the compressed module with a Password.

As with any vitally important piece of data - I would not
consider a simple backup to another magnetic media as adequate.

"Frank Callone" <inn200@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:42d270f8$0$20147$9b4e6d93@newsread2.arcor-online.net...
> Occasionally I connect an external USB harddisc to my computer in order to
> backup serveral
> directories. This works fine. However I would like to encrypt the whole
> USB harddisc?
>
> What is the best solutions?
>
> I would like to connect to the USB harddisc under Win2000 and WinXP.
> The Harddisc is NTFS formatted.
>
> Is Microsofts EFS encrytion system stable?
>
> What other tools are recommendable (under Windows)?
> What about BestCrypt and DriveCrypt?
>
> The most important criterias for me are stability and reliability.
>
> Speed and costs are second order.
>
> Frank
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

Steganos Security Suite
http://www.steganos.com/?product=SSS7&language=en&layout=web2005

Evaluation Test Version
http://www.steganos.com/?product=SAFE8&area=download&language=en&layout=web2005

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User
Microsoft Newsgroups

Get Windows XP Service Pack 2 with Advanced Security Technologies:
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/protect/windowsxp/choose.mspx

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Frank Callone" wrote:

| Occasionally I connect an external USB harddisc to my computer in order to backup serveral
| directories. This works fine. However I would like to encrypt the whole USB harddisc?
|
| What is the best solutions?
|
| I would like to connect to the USB harddisc under Win2000 and WinXP.
| The Harddisc is NTFS formatted.
|
| Is Microsofts EFS encrytion system stable?
|
| What other tools are recommendable (under Windows)?
| What about BestCrypt and DriveCrypt?
|
| The most important criterias for me are stability and reliability.
|
| Speed and costs are second order.
|
| Frank

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

Steganos Security Suite
http://www.steganos.com/?product=SSS7&language=en&layout=web2005

Evaluation Test Version
http://www.steganos.com/?product=SAFE8&area=download&language=en&layout=web2005

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User
Microsoft Newsgroups

Get Windows XP Service Pack 2 with Advanced Security Technologies:
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/protect/windowsxp/choose.mspx

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Frank Callone" wrote:

| Occasionally I connect an external USB harddisc to my computer in order to backup serveral
| directories. This works fine. However I would like to encrypt the whole USB harddisc?
|
| What is the best solutions?
|
| I would like to connect to the USB harddisc under Win2000 and WinXP.
| The Harddisc is NTFS formatted.
|
| Is Microsofts EFS encrytion system stable?
|
| What other tools are recommendable (under Windows)?
| What about BestCrypt and DriveCrypt?
|
| The most important criterias for me are stability and reliability.
|
| Speed and costs are second order.
|
| Frank

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

"Frank Callone" <inn200@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:42d270f8$0$20147$9b4e6d93@newsread2.arcor-online.net...
> Occasionally I connect an external USB harddisc to my computer in order to
> backup serveral
> directories. This works fine. However I would like to encrypt the whole
> USB harddisc?
>
> What is the best solutions?
>
> I would like to connect to the USB harddisc under Win2000 and WinXP.
> The Harddisc is NTFS formatted.
>
> Is Microsofts EFS encrytion system stable?
>
> What other tools are recommendable (under Windows)?
> What about BestCrypt and DriveCrypt?
>
> The most important criterias for me are stability and reliability.
>
> Speed and costs are second order.
>
> Frank
>

EFS will work but you have to be sure you understand and test the recovery
methods before you use it. It is really designed to work in a domain
environment but can be made to work outside of a domain. Test the recovery
options many times on non-critical data before you start using it on
critical data. Create a test user. Encrypt some files. Delete the user. Try
to decrypt the files. Until you can do this your data will not be safe. A
far better method would be to not encrypt the backup at all, but keep it
under lock and key when not being used. All encryption methods have pitfalls
for the unwary. The whole point of encryption is to make the data hard to
get at. That is the last thing you need for a backup.

Kerry

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.win2000.general,microsoft.public.windowsxp.general,microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support (More info?)

You do understand that your usb drive is NOT reliable. It is like a floppy
diskette. Good today bad tomorrow. It is not even recoverable like with a
real hard drive.

Reason I mention this is there was this executive who thought storing all
his confidencial info on a usb drive was the "smart and secure" way of doing
things.
When his usb drive died he lost three years of documentation.

I have a Lexar Jumpdrive [1gig usb] which comes with a security program that
allows you to partition the usb drive so that it requires a password for
access.

Otherwise I don't have an answer about other encryption products. I tend
not to use them since losing all access to encrypted data a few years back.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

Frank Callone wrote:

> Occasionally I connect an external USB harddisc to my computer in order to backup serveral
> directories. This works fine. However I would like to encrypt the whole USB harddisc?
>
> What is the best solutions?
>
> I would like to connect to the USB harddisc under Win2000 and WinXP.
> The Harddisc is NTFS formatted.
>
> Is Microsofts EFS encrytion system stable?
>
> What other tools are recommendable (under Windows)?
> What about BestCrypt and DriveCrypt?
>
> The most important criterias for me are stability and reliability.
>
> Speed and costs are second order.
Hi,

I wouldn't touch EFS even with a ten foot pole...

A friend of mine have tested a free product called TrueCrypt to encrypt
data on USB sticks, and he was very satisfied.

TrueCrypt
http://www.truecrypt.org/

<quote>
Free open-source disk encryption for Windows XP/2000/2003

Main Features:
* It can create a virtual encrypted disk within a file and mount it
as a real disk.
* It can encrypt an entire hard disk partition or a device, such as
USB memory stick, floppy disk, etc.

</quote>



--
torgeir, Microsoft MVP Scripting and WMI, Porsgrunn Norway
Administration scripting examples and an ONLINE version of
the 1328 page Scripting Guide:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/scriptcenter/default.mspx

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

On 11 Jul 2005 13:15:37 GMT, inn200@hotmail.com (Frank Callone) wrote:

>Occasionally I connect an external USB harddisc to my computer in order to backup serveral
>directories. This works fine. However I would like to encrypt the whole USB harddisc?
>
>What is the best solutions?
>
>I would like to connect to the USB harddisc under Win2000 and WinXP.
>The Harddisc is NTFS formatted.
>
>Is Microsofts EFS encrytion system stable?
>
>What other tools are recommendable (under Windows)?
>What about BestCrypt and DriveCrypt?
>
>The most important criterias for me are stability and reliability.
>
>Speed and costs are second order.
>
>Frank

For what purpose do you need to encrypt the drive? What state secrets
are you trying to protect?

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

inn200@hotmail.com (Frank Callone) wrote in
news:42d270f8$0$20147$9b4e6d93@newsread2.arcor-online.net:

> Occasionally I connect an external USB harddisc to my computer in
> order to backup serveral directories. This works fine. However I
> would like to encrypt the whole USB harddisc?
>
> What is the best solutions?
>
> I would like to connect to the USB harddisc under Win2000 and
> WinXP. The Harddisc is NTFS formatted.
>
> Is Microsofts EFS encrytion system stable?
>
> What other tools are recommendable (under Windows)?
> What about BestCrypt and DriveCrypt?


Do not use Microsoft EFS. The encryption key is tied to your SID and
should your disk crash and take the SID with it, you will not be able
to recover your files. It is also not portable across different
computers.

I would recommend freeware TrueCrypt. The encryption is tied solely to
a password you provide and it is portable across systems. It is
dependable in my experience and it doesn't hurt that it's free. Be
sure to read the warning in the manual about USB and other flash
drives... they tend to be less reliable than the encryption program.
Make sure your only backup doesn't reside on such a device.

<http://sourceforge.net/projects/truecrypt>

HTH,
John