Hidden USB Storage

Step 5 Done!

If, your memory stick has a LED on it like mine, I would suggest putting a piece of electrical tape over it so that it doesn't reveal your secrets. Attach the fake phone jack to the wall, and replace the face plate. If you used a phone box from Radioshack, simply attach it to an inconspicuous spot on the baseboard near your computer.

To access your secret plans, all you do is plug the USB end into your computer and the phone end into your fake phone jack. It should show up as a USB mass storage device.

Congratulations! your plans are now well hidden. Thank you for reading my Instructable; comments are appreciated as usual.

Comments

[Everett_McKinley]

wicked idea.

[mjzmjz]

really good idea, 1 question, can I put the usb drive in a live phone plate? Can I use the phone on that line, then unplug the phone, then use the usb drive?

[biomech75]

If you put the flashdrive along with the live phone box the power that the live phone connection has could damage the drive

[cparida]

are u mad?

[TrippingJimmies]

This would work with an RJ-45 (8 wire) connection. You setup the phone on the blue pair of the jack and the USB on any of the four wires.

[beehard44]

or an ethernet port. The ethernet port only uses 4 wires,leaving you with the other 4 (just make sure you aren't using power over ethernet)
So if you use wall mounted jacks, you can easily make a special cable to extract your precious files while leaving it useable for internet with a regular unmodified jack

[Tithen]

you could drill a small hole then feed the wires for the usb through and wrap them around your phone cable and maybe put a bit of tape around it and connect the wires to a usb male. kinda like when you have a wireless keyboard, the wires are kinda joined but split up at the end for the ps2. does that makes sense idk how to explain it.

[hoonflap]

maybe wire a bunch of reed switches (4 closed when no magnet for phone and 4 open when no magnet) for the phone and the usb, then put a bar magnet across the front as your "key" to access the usb. phone jack should still work when plugged into a phone with no magnet present.

[Toki Wartooth]

I'm pretty sure that wouldn't work. I'm assuming you would splice the phone line and the USB line together and terminate it at the phone jack. Phone lines carry a little bit of electricity so with it added to the USB power output from the computer's it would probably overload the little USB stick. Even if it didn't fry it the electrical signals from the phone line would make some kind of background noise that the computer probably couldn't ignore.

You could always get a dual jack phone plate though. ;)

[account3r2]

"Phone lines carry a little bit of electricity..."

a little bit? phones carry around 60v dc idle and 120v ac ringing

[cparida]

enought 2 kill u!!!!

[electfire]

I nave never measured more than 10volts DC on a phone line - but then again that maybe something that varies by region.

[Toki Wartooth]

Yes, you are right it. It is more than a "little". My point still stands though. It's not the 5 watts necessary for a USB device.

[snowluck2345]

*volts. that would be one hot flash drive if it was 5 watts

[account3r2]

yeah, i guess so.

[junits15]

it should be fine, as long as the switches are spdt and assuming you dont want to use the phone and usb at the same time :)

[jacques3]

that is superb for hiding usb's and what would look real cool is an ethernet version and ethernet led torch sorry if it is mean but those above are superb ideas.

[Jamez Britton]

This is an absolutely brilliant way to hide stuff. Really good idea!

[Chadworkz]

I use that EXACT Zippo and that EXACT Jump-Drive...too cool (weird?)!

[tbird45039]

me three

[duct tape]

me four

[BakaTanuki]

Well I tried it, and can not get it to work. This is my second wiring job, and these tiny wires are a bit fragile. I think my wiring is just too messy, with little broken bits.

[BakaTanuki]

haHA! nevermind, I got it working. My theory was corrent, and after several failures and cutting the wire back more- I got it. My wire is thinner then what you show, and was tricky but my pocket knife skills won in the end. Great tutorial, sir, this will be a nice addition to my collection of secret data storage methods.

[ShadowAssassin]

I love how I was reading on how to make a dead drop right before this :P This gave me the idea for new capabilties of dead drops... world domination just got one step closer :'D

[nickboy98]

GOOD WORK!!! that is the smartest thing i have seen in ages

[aly1995]

CAN ANYONE TELL ME WAT IS THE PURPOSE OF DIS THING.............=(

[Andrewlarson]

for storage but if you dont know you need not know or worry

[lombax989]

This is so cool it hurts!

[TXTCLA55]

LOL you cant see it at all! just the whole freaking box is exposed! :P have you considered putting more drywall over it yet? :P just kidding looks great 5 stars!

[comkid7797]

Cool!

[awsomehighvoltage]

great idea! great place to hide your pr0nz from computer savvy parents.
btw, your "secret plans" are 0 kilobytes.

[gonturan]

Perhaps his secret plan is a single byte that has incredible destructive power.

One Byte to rule them all, One Byte to find them,
One Byte to bring them all and in the darkness bind them."

Or perhaps he hid its real file size by editing the FAT system in order to confuse the FBI.

[natman3400]

Maybe is just the awesomeest punctuation mark ever, the Interbang=

[smmiller506]

If you have an older computer with a phone jack, and you really wanted it to look good, you could make a cable that goes from a USB header on the motherboard to the phone jack on the inside of the computer. You'd have to unsolder the jack from the board, but there would be nothing obvious on the outside. Then, use a regular 6 foot long phone patch cord from the computer jack to the wall. Thoughts?

[hoonflap]

or replace the onboard phone jack with the usb-thumbdrive-phonejack and have the cable go from a usb port to the phone jack on the same computer. that way it's portable, could be jammed into a laptop. still, having it in the wall is more like old school horror movie secret panel / hidden door / secret agents own house, meaning i have to respect it

[Mr.Electric]

Great Idea!

[Kwitmeh3]

i thought of that on the older copmuters

[grantaccess]

I like this idea. (put on tinfoil hat) If those people looking for info are at all bright they will notice a USB to RJ45 cable. If you were to use the backplate of an old modem, and solder the RJ45 jack to a USB header cable, then you would have a pretty stealthy setup.

[The Knights Of The Round Pie]

If instead of just making a USB/RJ11 cable you could connect a female USB port and a phone jack and put it in a plastic box that looks like a DC adaptor and then you can just use 2 separate cables and it will look more normal.

[ARTH19970325]

cool & awesome \8-)