I often travel with work, and most of the times I carry a portable USB HDD (in my case I have a 100GB laptop SATAII HDD, in a Vantec E-SATA / USB enclosure), or a large USB Memory Stick. The USB HDD enclosure basically dock’s into a “docking station” in the PC, which then connects it to the high speed SATA II bus and I can use it as any other Hard Drive in my PC.
When I’m on the move, it works with USB ( I didn’t want to carry an external power supply) and is small and lightweight.
The biggest problem I faced was that a lot of data on the portable HDD was private, and I didn’t want other people to get their hands on it. I carry client’s website projects (for when I want to work on it, or demo it to the clients), photos (for my photography – when I want to show it to someone, work on it, print it, etc), my business’s accounting info, and other private documents.
I also work a lot between Linux & Windows machines, so I needed something which is compatible with both operating systems. Accessing Linux’s EXT3 file system from Windows is fairly easy, and also accessing Windows FAT32 from Linux was easy, but I prefer to use Linux’s EXT3 cause the average non-Linux user wouldn’t know what todo with the drive if they got it. BUT, that doesn’t mean that a Linux user can’t access the data. So I needed better protection. After searching, and asking around, someone suggested TrueCrypt.
TrueCrypt can encrypt a disk, partition, or file and works very well. From what I’ve read on their website, there’s no back door, and no way to crack the encryption (unless you have access to a RoadRunner, Cray or Blue Gene, or any other Super Computer) It supports many encryption algorithms and it can even create hidden encrypted partitions and operating systems.
From download, to install, to encrypting my first partition, was a breeze. It probably took me about 15 minutes in total. Once encrypted, I could mount the hidden Hard Drive, and safely store all my important data on it.
When on the move, I know that my data on is safe. I can just plug the hard drive / memory stick into another PC, install TrueCrypt, mount it and then use my data.
Last night I also encrypted my games Hard Drive on my PC, and soon I’ll be encrypting every other Hard Drive I own, to keep all my data safe from prying eyes & thieves.
