Securing Flash Drives

[TheGardener]

So I lost a flash drive last week. I thought maybe it popped out of my laptop's case, when pulling out the power cord. I was more than upset with myself, because there are files with personal information, and everything on the drive is visible.

Good news. After cleaning up some papers laying around last night, I saw the flash drive. So I am relieved about this. But now I realize that I need to protect all my flash drives should I lose one for real. of course I do back up my documents to a hard drive. But I do use flash drives for additional backup and for convenience, as I'm sure most of you do.

So what are the best ways to secure a flash drive? Both free and pay program suggestions are good. Just so you know, I have zero interest (and trust) in uploading any files to the Cloud. So if you offer a suggestion along these lines, I'll immediately dismiss it.

 

[Dahak]

Off the top of my head, you could look at encrypted flashdrives like ironkey

or use something like truecrypt to encrypt the flash drive or a container on the flash drive
or bitlocker in the newer versions of windows (8.1 and 10, don't believe 7 would do flashdrives, plus need enterprise)

 

[Chiefcrowe]

Ironkey is probably one of the best options I agree.

Also, bitlocker is a good option too but you have to make sure you have a good backup of the recovery key.

 

[TheGardener]

Ironkey as far as I can tell is a combination hardware and software solution. And a pretty expensive one at that. I'm looking for a software solution that I can use on the existing flash drives I own, like PNY and Lexar.

TrueCyrpt is no longer supported, and the site recommends migrating to BitLocker.

I never heard of BitLocker, but I see it is a feature of Windows 7. But according to Microsoft, it is supported by Windows 7 Ultimate and Enterprise. My laptop runs Home Premium.

Any other suggestions?

 

[Elixer]

A hardware solution is much easier, but, yeah, it is more expensive.
You could use 7zip/winrar to encrypt said files on the drive. That is more time consuming though.
There are other ways, but they aren't free.

 

[lxskllr]

You could use 7zip/winrar to encrypt said files on the drive.

This is what I would do, but I'd probably use gpg.

 

[TheGardener]

Many moons ago I use to use WINZIP. Is this as good as zip solutions recommended?

 

[Elixer]

Many moons ago I use to use WINZIP. Is this as good as zip solutions recommended?

I don't think that has encryption available... could, but haven't checked.
I know 7zip does, and is free.

 

[PliotronX]

TrueCrypt still functions great and the branch project VeraCrypt is being kept up to date but has not been independently scrutinized like TrueCrypt has. I still use it without issue. Encrypted archives are okay if you rarely work with the files but the container of TC/VC is so convenient I hardly use anything else. I also use it with cloud sync (it will upload changes when dismounting). Can't beat the pricetag either.

Another tool I sometimes use is AxCrypt which will decrypt in memory while the program has it open and then re-encrypt after saving and closing.

 

[corkyg]

I keep my flash drive on my car key ring and never let it go. I use it and put it back. This has worked for over 6 years.

 

[jerawat]

Many moons ago I use to use WINZIP. Is this as good as zip solutions recommended?

I think its bad solutions !!

 

[Zstream]

Bitlocker is good