How to Encrypt a Thumb Drive
Losing your thumb drive can be stressful and dangerous. It potentially contains a wealth of information on you, and if it winds up in the wrong hands someone can invade your personal or financial life. Luckily, there is an easy solution to this problem via encryption. Encryption allows your data to be scrambled and inaccessible to anyone without the appropriate password. Should you lose your encrypted drive, a would-be criminal would not have access to your personal data. Several options exist to encrypt a thumb drive.
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Instructions
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Encrypt your entire thumb drive with Windows 7 Ultimate or Enterprise editions. These versions of Windows 7 come with a function called "BitLocker To Go," which allows you to encrypt your thumb drive and prevent access without the appropriate password. This option is only available in the Ultimate and Enterprise editions, although reduced access to the encrypted drive is allowed on other versions of Windows. If you only plan to use your thumb drive on Windows 7 Ultimate or Enterprise computers, this is the most convenient option.
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Encrypt individual files using Remora USB Disk Guard. This program installs directly to and runs from your USB thumb drive. It allows files to be encrypted and decrypted individually, which means only files manually decrypted can be accessed. This heightens the security of other files but also requires more effort from the user. The limitation of this method is it is easy to accidentally leave files decrypted and vulnerable.
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Create an encrypted, cross-platform "container file" using TrueCrypt, which can be run directly from your thumb drive without installation. The data in the container file is decrypted "on-the-fly," so it is never permanently decrypted and does not need to be re-encrypted after use. This means your data remains encrypted at all times, even after power outages or an unexpected removal of the thumb drive. This option is the most robust, offers stronger 256-bit encryption and is platform independent, which means your container file is accessible in Windows, Mac and Linux. The limitation to this option is the user requires administrative privileges to run TrueCrypt unless it is already installed on the host computer.
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Create an encrypted Windows "container file" using OTFE. Similar to TrueCrypt, this container file is decrypted on-the-fly and optionally offers 256-bit encryption. OTFE Explorer is not as robust, but it does not require administrative privileges to run, which means it is accessible on a wider range of Windows systems.
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Tips & Warnings
When choosing a password, longer and more complex passwords or passphrases are more secure, but they should also be easy to remember.
Do not forget your password. If necessary, write it down in a separate and secure location. If you lose your password, your data will be unrecoverable.
References
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