Folder Lock on External Hard Drive

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  1. Posts : 22
    Windows Vista
       #1

    Folder Lock on External Hard Drive


    Hello,

    I am using folder lock 6.0 to lock folder on my two laptops. I have a WD External hard drive. I want to lock (password protect) some folders on the portable/external harddrive. I don't want aany encryption because I may forgot the password and may not be able to recover data. I also don't want to lock complete partition. I just want to make it hidden/password protected from casual users. Is it possible using folder lock? It has a portability feature but it requires to transfer all data to a locker. I have a very large amount of data which I want to lock (~100GB). Folder lock has a feature to lock any folder on hard drive but it dosn't work when it is external/portable hard drive.

    Any help?

    Thanks,
    Alex
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 14,606
    Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit 7600
       #2

    i use winmend folder hidden which is a similar software it works fine with externals and free
    http://www.winmend.com/folder-hidden/
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 22
    Windows Vista
    Thread Starter
       #3

    boohbah said:
    i use winmend folder hidden which is a similar software it works fine with externals and free
    WinMend Folder Hidden - Safely and quickly hide files and folders.
    Thank for reply. But it makes folder hidden and I cannot open it on any other computer where it is not installed. Is there anything else?

    Thanks
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 14,606
    Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit 7600
       #4
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 2
    Windows 7 Home Premium 32bit
       #5

    Password protected external USB Drive


    Found a nice post regarding this topic,
    url: How to lock external hard drive with password (USB-Full Protection)

    this software can protect your external devices with password. additionally it's faster than TrueCrypt or any other of this kind. Moreover it comes with Write protection. that means one can't even format your drive without unlocking it :)
    Last edited by xeonX; 01 Sep 2012 at 02:51.
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  6. Posts : 14,606
    Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit 7600
       #6

    welcome to the forum

    looks handy ,thanks for posting
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 25
    Windows 7 Ultimate x32
       #7
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 3
    Windows 7 Ultimate x64
       #8

    Take a try of freeware Wise Folder Hider, double-password protection


    Alex8525 said:
    Hello,

    I am using folder lock 6.0 to lock folder on my two laptops. I have a WD External hard drive. I want to lock (password protect) some folders on the portable/external harddrive. I don't want aany encryption because I may forgot the password and may not be able to recover data. I also don't want to lock complete partition. I just want to make it hidden/password protected from casual users. Is it possible using folder lock? It has a portability feature but it requires to transfer all data to a locker. I have a very large amount of data which I want to lock (~100GB). Folder lock has a feature to lock any folder on hard drive but it dosn't work when it is external/portable hard drive.

    Any help?

    Thanks,
    Alex
    boohbah said:
    i use winmend folder hidden which is a similar software it works fine with externals and free
    WinMend Folder Hidden - Safely and quickly hide files and folders.

    Take a try of freeware Wise Folder Hider, double-password protection. Wise Folder Hider - Free Folder Hidden tool
      My Computer


  9. Posts : 513
    Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit
       #9

    xeonX said:
    Found a nice post regarding this topic,
    url: How to lock external hard drive with password (USB-Full Protection)

    this software can protect your external devices with password. additionally it's faster than TrueCrypt or any other of this kind. Moreover it comes with Write protection. that means one can't even format your drive without unlocking it :)
    No, you can format the drive easily. not from disk management, but from windows explorer. Just right click and select format, and it will format the drive, and you won't be able to decrypt your data anymore with the portable software (cause it is gone; even if you made a backup of the portable decrypter, it wouldn't work). And the drive won't be usable again (It will always show up as 1 MB; whatever the size of the drive is). Therefore, you will lose the ability of using the drive completely in addition to losing the data (The point is here actually is that, the person who have the possession of your drive won't be able to use the drive either because it will be a 1 MB drive).

    However, the very best thing is that if you have the installation file of the program or the installed software; even if the drive got formatted and the portable encryption does not exist anymore, you will be able to decrypt your drive and reach your files. Therefore, keep the installation files somewhere safe and somewhere you can reach! (E-mail, another safe portable drive, etc. - These warnings are for if you need very portable use).
    So, my point is; you may need the installation file just in case the portable decrypter gets lost.

    Bad news is, the drive can be formatted in Mac or Linux. There is no way that I was able to find to make a drive not formattable, except setting a HDD Password at BIOS which will only give you access from that machine or another machine with the same BIOS HDD Password Settings.
    When the drive is formatted in Mac or Linux; it goes back to its original size; therefore, whoever has the possession of the drive can use the drive, but still can't use your data; it is gone.

    I still don't know how the hell StorageCrypt 'encrypts' a 2TB drive under a minute. I guess the thing is, it encrypts the drive, not the data! Cause it would be impossible to encrypt 2TB under a minute.

    My only worry is that, since StorageCrypt changing a 2TB NTFS drive to a 1 MB unallocated space or FAT32; does this give the drive a damage on a regular use let's say decrypting/encrypting every single day?
    Does anybody have any information on this?


    By the way; you can also carry another drive with you, which has portable virtualbox (or a portable drive which as an operating system which can be run from a portable drive which has the virtualbox application) to use a Windows in a virtual machine, which will enable you to decrypt/encrypt the drive on other operating systems, or if you have an operating system in the portable drive, on any computer.

    You can give all the subfolders and files in SCLite (the portable decrypter) including the SCLite itself file attributes of +s +h +r; therefore, only if the other user shows the system files; he can see it. The drive still can be formatted so the portable decrypter can be lost. Another solution is changing the names and extensions of the files to get less attention to the files, but as I said, this still won't stop the portable decrypter to be deleted. Shortly, if you have internet, you can reach the software from where you saved it; if you don't; try to have the installation file or the installed software with you.

    StorageCrypt is only for Windows File Systems (won't encrypt if there is a 200MB GPT Protective Partition. It works though on GPT Drives without a Protective Partition). And the software can be run only in Windows (It works in a Windows Virtual Machine of course). Maximum supported drive size is 2TB. If you have to use it on a drive larger than 2TB, you can use a software -some manufacturers provide that-, which will make the drive seen as 2 Disks in operating systems.

    Sorry about the long post; I recently encrypted 8 TB on several drives after several 'try-out's with several softwares which took lots of time. It is a 'touchy' subject.
    Last edited by IMAyNeed; 04 Sep 2012 at 00:30.
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  10. Posts : 2
    Windows 7 Home Premium 32bit
       #10

    Right :)
    Last edited by xeonX; 10 Sep 2012 at 01:30. Reason: It was my mistake, I haven't read the previous reply carefully :)
      My Computer


 
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