How to Secure Your USB Drive

Everyone has files they don't want others seeing. Maybe they are financial documents, school work, or other "questionable" files. Whatever they are, you want a way to secure them. Putting a password on your PC will do you no good, and it would not be portable. Buying a USB drive makes data portable, put usually not secure. For truly secure data, you need an encrypted USB drive.

I will show you how to make a super, unhackable USB drive. It will be of no use to anyone but you, and even if someone had access to government grade hacking software, they would not be able to access the data.

I am NOT responsible for whatever you put on the drive, or whatever damage you do with said data or the drive.

Step 1: The Tools

First and foremost, you need two things:

1) A USB drive
2) TrueCrypt

The USB drive can be obtained at any store that sells material items. You should probably get a 1GB or bigger, because 1GB only costs about $10. I am using a 4GB that I have had for 2 years (same as the one in the picture below, just half the memory).

TrueCrypt is an open-source (free for your not-so-computer-knowledgeable-person) software. It uses government grade encryption (256-bit) and better, so you can be sure your data is safe. You can download it at http://www.truecrypt.org/. After installing it, you will need to restart your computer.

Comments

[shadow wave rider]

what is the gutmann method? please tell me

[Crazy Leprecaun]

It is a method of data deletion where the data is overwritten 35 times. If you delete files using it, they will be impossible to recover.

[shadow wave rider]

will it deleat everything even if im entering my really really long password and i tap a wrong key.

[Jamez Britton]

TrueCrypt is good for encrypting documents and securing them but it is hackable.
I've done it before because I accidently forgot my password for it.

[Crazy Leprecaun]

And how'd you do that? Because it's government-grade encryption.

[Jamez Britton]

i downloaded a government-grade password variable hacker

[Crazy Leprecaun]

Oh really? And where'd you get that?

[IAMAFISH]

Thanks for the instructable it has been very useful. What if your a paranoid terrorist government agent instead of just one of them?

[michaelb958]

I'm rolling around on the floor laughing at the above right now...

[jvpernis]

can you make an usb which encrypts all files on the hard drive (and really secret files stored on the usb) until the usb is plugged in? and if u pull out the usb that all files will encrypt automaticly again? that'd be awesome because it is kinda like a key to your computer. very useful when u have a laptop. nice instructable by the way!

[ArduMir]

A good starter tutorial, but Step 4 in your article is not always correct. I'm purely writing this to be informative, not to insult you. Flash drives use flash memory to store data, which tends to wear down after a prolonged usage. To prevent it from wearing down as quick, a technique called 'wear leveling' was implemented. Instead of a physical sector of the drive being overwritten like a normal disk, new data gets written to unused sectors of memory, while the 'overwritten data' just becomes free to use. Basically, there's two problems you'll have. The first is you won't actually be overwriting the old data, it will just write off to unused sectors to prevent wearing. Second is you're using the Gutmann method to make 35 passes across unused sectors that may never overwrite the old data, also causing wearing to your flash drive.

[lockpick]

Hi I'm on a Mac and when I attempt to encrypt my flash drive it asks me for a pass word and when I enter a password it says incorrect. Any help?

[red 9er]

Can i apply this method to say, an entire internal hard drive in a computer?

[bsoud]

I have an external drive for work. Its encrypted and I was able to mount the drive at work. However, when I try to auto mount it at home, i put in the password, and it says "Incorrect password or no TrueCrypt volume found"...I Absolutely have the right password, its the one I used at work. Any ideas?

[mox386]

I have the same problem, and there seems to be nothing out there on the internet about the Truecrypt "Incorrect password or no TrueCrypt volume found" error on the automount feature of truecrypt. It's getting to be a real hassle as it used to work on this computer. You can kinda tell others are having the issue, but there are no answers out there yet, and I've been searching for a few months off and on.

 

[Crazy Leprecaun]

The obvious answer would be that you are selecting the wrong drive to decrypt. If that's not the answer, try one of these:

1) You did forget the password (or a keyfile).
2) The header is corrupted.
3) Some strange OS or user privileges issues.

If none of those work, try the TrueCrypt Forums or TrueCrypt FAQ.

[dirtbike985]

(removed by author or community request)

[Saturn V]

WHO CARES!!!!!!!!

[ivorandjuan]

 hi i think that you have been bullied into believing everything the US government tells you hell if it is illegal then lets use it. usually a government makes something illegal if they cant make any money on it or they crack it  

[M4industries]

 BS

[BBBower]

How would encryption of your own data as such be illegal, is that like you cant put more than 3 padlocks on a bicycle?

[watzhisface]

lol

[adam 101]

I don't believe so
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/F?c106:1:./temp/~c106exRGPE:e6986:

[Crazy Leprecaun]

I was not aware of this. Where did you get this information?

[M4industries]

 It says resource busy whenever I enter the password.

[M4industries]

 Hi, on a mac, I see a select device button at the bottom of the screen, do I need to worry about this section?

[M4industries]

 On second thought, never mind, my new question is it asks me my volume location and to select file.

[M4industries]

 Can I add documents as I save them without reformatting?

[Crazy Leprecaun]

Yes. You just add them when the volume is decrypted, then dismount the volume when you are done.

[life-is-beautiful]

and the retartard states he is a terriost govenment agent and paranoid. well i say good luck with that. and good work on the instructable i put it on my flash and it works exept the fact that when i go to use it my computer says insert a drive into the port.

[Crazy Leprecaun]

Yeah, it will do that. You can't access the encrypted drive from My Computer (or your OS specific file browser). You have to use TrueCrypt to access it in it's "decrypted form".

[Psychic Master]

can the drive be mounted without the truecrypt software installed on the computer you are using?

[Crazy Leprecaun]

No. You have to have TrueCrypt installed on the computer. HOWEVER, if you have administrator privileges, you can use TrueCrypt in traveler mode. See the website for details.

[rada194]

How would we put are computer password as the truecrypt encryption is that possible

[Crazy Leprecaun]

Sorry, but I can't understand your question.

[Mr. Geek]

im having a problem, or im just really dumb, I made an encrypted file, but i can just go into windows explorer and open it up.

[Crazy Leprecaun]

Well, it's probably still mounted. In the main TrueCrypt window, dismount the drive. That should solve the issue.

[frodobot]

This is a really cool idea. BUT, my problem is that where you put "A hidden partition gives you what is called "plausable deniability." This means that there is a hidden drive there, and someone may know it, but they cannot prove it. A hidden partition is a great place to put REALLY sensitive documents." made me immediately think that paedophiles and internet perves could use this to hide paedophilic files and images. Does anybody think the same?

[El Mano]

I just want to check before I take a shot at ruinig my new USB drive: how do you remove the encryption and return the encrypted drive to its original state? Secondly, I've hunted through the TrueCrypt user's guide, but I can't find my answer: do you have to have TrueCrypt on the computer to open the drive? I gather that the process encrypts the entire drive, leaving no space to carry around the TrueCrypt files. Rather useless if you want to use the drive on a computer at school or someplace.

[Crazy Leprecaun]

1) To remove the encryption, you format the drive. If you do not want to lose the data, you can copy it to your computer or to another USB or to an encrypted volume. 2) Yes, you have to have TrueCrypt installed on a computer to access the drive. While this is a problem, there is no way around it.

[Lowney]

When I try to select the volume location it says "Unable to list raw devices installed on your system!" What do I do?

[Crazy Leprecaun]

I have no idea. Are you mounting an external drive or a container (file)?

[Lowney]

Normal USB:
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/31K0xAZERML.jpg

[objection!]

Excellent... No, seriously. I actually need this. Nice 'ble. Faved.

[rada194]

What if you forget the password... will you ever be able to see your files again

[ultrauber]

If you used a hash, and the password was ASCII characters, there would be about 3231700607131100730071487668867000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 possible combinations. So basically, no.

[Crazy Leprecaun]

He's right. It would take longer to crack the password than the earth has been around (scientifically), and something tells me that the data would be pretty much worthless by then.

[Crazy Leprecaun]

Please tell me that you did not forget the password. If you do, you will NEVER EVER see your files again. TrueCrypt encrypts your USB with government-grade encryption (256-bit).

[led freak]

my usb drive is in drive f: but the truecrypt does not offer drive f: what do i do

[jchar77]

No. What you see is a list of drives that you can mount your flash drive to

[Crazy Leprecaun]

That's right. You cannot mount the TrueCrypt part as F:, because you already have a drive mounted as F:. Use a different letter (I use Y:).

[Crazy Leprecaun]

I really am confused as to what you mean, but I will do my best. I am basing this response on the assumption that you have encrypted a USB drive and when you plug it in, it shows up as drive F. However, TrueCrypt will not allow you to mount the drive as F. This is easily solved. Your problem is easy. If a USB drive takes up F (or whatever), you need to mount it as something else (I usually choose Y). It does not matter what one you choose. If you do not understand, I can give you step-by-step instructions in another message.

[El Mano]

How does one use a TrueCrypt Container? I made the encryption file by moving my cursor in the window, but I can't figure out what to do with it. I tried mounting it to a drive, but all that did was display another drive in My Computer.

[Crazy Leprecaun]

I don't see what the problem is. You have a TrueCrypt volume, and I assume you know the password. You open TrueCrypt (the application) and select the volume. Click "Mount" and enter the password. The volume should mount. Go to My Computer and open the drive you selected. Put stuff in it. Close it. Be happy.

[El Mano]

So the mounted drive is just a door into the volume, which acts like a normal file. Does this mean you can only access the contents by mounting the file through TrueCrypt?

[Crazy Leprecaun]

Yes. The file is encrypted, and TrueCrypt decrypts the file. When you enter the password for the file (in TrueCrypt), it will be mounted as a drive letter (the one you selected before entering the password). You can then treat the mounted volume as a USB drive: just open it in Windows Explorer and put some files on it. When you are done, just open the TrueCrypt interface and press the Dismount button.

[rohxas]

for some reason when i try to use the setup it won't do anything, it just tells me to select the program i want to use to open it. or that i don't have the correct program at all. any idea about this?

[Crazy Leprecaun]

Well, what is it that is not working? If you made a TrueCrypt volume (file), then it will just be in "File" format (not associated with any program) and you will have to open it by opening TrueCrypt and selecting the file. If the problem is with encrypting a USB, then tell me exactly what it is saying. Either way, show me a screen shot.

[df99]

A good way to be even more secure is to require a keyfile as well as a password to mount your hidden volume. These fie should be a bunch of random bits. I go to http://www.fourmilab.ch/hotbits/ and request a 2048 byte file from their server. Th file is generated from atomic decay, so is truly random. I just save the keyfile on a regular USB thumb drive, so I need the file and a password to access. REALLY secure.

[Psychic Master]

great ible very informative now my parrents can no longer look at my stuff

[Crazy Leprecaun]

Just be sure to delete the shortcuts in your "Recent Documents" folder. Otherwise, they can see the names and file-types of (almost) every file you access.

[berky93]

I do love truecrypt, but I prefer to make a dynamic-sized truecrypt file WITHIN my flash drive, so I can put truecrypt portable on my drive and run it from there. you cant open a secured drive without truecrypt, so unless all of the computers you want to use it on have the software, it wont work. plus you can make a truecrypt volume out of an image, so to others it just looks like a broken picture.

[portpatty]

Nice picture of the SanDisk Cruzer. I have a Mac and I just read an interesting post on secure USB drives that fully support Apple Mac OS X computers. You should also read the press release about secure USB flash drives for Mac posted on the official SanDisk Enterprise site.