USB Security

[Bartlett]

I carry around a thumb drive at work that has some semi-sensitive material on it. I am curious if anyone has used a program to lock/encrypt files on a USB drive that does not have to be installed on the local machine (since I can't install things on the company computer) and will actually protect the files.

I tried folder lock, which looked good when installed on my computer, but when I use the drive on a different computer that allows hidden/system folders to be shown, on which the program has not been installed, I can just open the files right up. This product claims that it will work when used on a thumb drive, and I followed the procedure for doing so, making me wary of choosing another product based on their opinion of themselves. Any ideas?

[Mistomeer]

I've used Pointsec, but I'm not sure if there is a personal edition.

[Bartlett]

I'll have to check it out. Thanks for the help!

[Bobmuhthol]

I love TrueCrypt, and I'm pretty sure you can install it onto and run it from the flash drive. It creates a file of size X that you define and you load the file within TrueCrypt to create a virtual drive. The files are password protected and there's a feature for a hidden drive, so if you're forced at gunpoint to give up the password or something it'll go into the top-level drive where you put files that you don't actually care if you give up and the files you do care about are secured in the hidden drive. The drives are single files and you choose the encryption type and strength that you want.

And it's freeware.