HDD access lock

[mesc]

Hello,

From my past posts concerning the buying of a Compact Flash card (CF) to use as a removable HDD, as it conforms to the ATA specification.

For this I use a CF card reader (ZiO!) and different cards of varying capacities.

The trouble that I’m having is that one of the cards (64MB) contains very sensitive information, and thus I want to make the data inaccessible when I’m not using it.

I know the obvious solution is to encrypt the whole thing, but doing this each time is cumbersome, prone to being forgotten and also I’m concerned of data integrity after so many encrypt/decrypt routines.

The solution I’m thinking of is a way to lock that particular disk from the boot sector or something like that, so that de drive can’t be easily read in any computer.

I figure that data could still be retrieved by a sophisticated user, but that it would be safe form access from most people.

Any suggestions?

mesc

[david eaton]

Hi mesc. I think that an encryption method is the way to go. There are applications about that automate thewhole process, and allow the encryption/decryption to operate transparently. Try a Google search for "file encryption" and see what comes out.

As regards file corruption, I would assume that as this is important data that you have backups?

David

[Paul Komski]

Never used a digital camera or a Flash Memory card but I'm interested in the cards as an alternative and portable method of storing onto removable media.

It's a bit confusing because there are so many types (see http://www.steves-digicams.com/flash_memory.html).

One of the types is SD (secure digital) which can safeguard copyrighted material. They seem designed for cameras and MP3s, but I don't know how they would work with "ordinary" pc data. Maybe some peeps will know the answer.

Since the memory is "non-volatile" it sounds like it should be very secure from the point of view of re-writing and re-encrypting. Just don't drop them out of the window or into a cup of coffee.

It's not clear if you want to secure the data while it is stored on the card and away from the pc or you just want to prevent easy access from the computer, while it has the reader attached to it. If it is the latter and it just appears as an extra drive, there would be a couple of approaches/strategies. Can you clarify and I'm sure someone will come back with a good answer.

[mesc]

Thanks for the replies,

Alter long consideration I’m also being inclined for the encryption alternative. Indeed the information is very important for me, as it consist of an inventory tracking database program, that I backup daily.

My concern with several encryptions over time is that small bytes of info could get changed over time, thus causing a cumulative problem that doesn’t shows up until a long time, thus making it difficult to recover from a backup, since there would be no way of knowing when the error appeared.

To Paul:

I’m very happy with the use of my CF as a storage media. It is more expensive than most portable storage, but it is totally portable (fits in shirt pocket including the Zio! Reader) and many cartridges can be purchased to fill any need. Data is well preserved from Shocks and since there are no moving parts it should last at least 50 years in the real world.

Another plus is that it works just as any ATA HDD, and even at USB 1.0 data flow is way faster than an ATAPI Zip drive.

Yes, I want to prevent easy access to data while the drive is plugged into the computer, so any ideas will be greatly appreciated.

[Paul Komski]

If it just appears as another drive letter in MyComputer you could hide it by using TweakUI. It wouldn't be over-secure because you could still access the hidden drive, since you know it is actually there; visible shortcuts to it would also be able to access it. But if would prevent a casual user from easily finding it.

After hiding/unhiding the drive you would need to reboot.

[mjc]

Take a look here (http://www.scramdisk.com/) for some products that might be able to do what you are after.

[Reid]

Originally posted by mesc

The solution I’m thinking of is a way to lock that particular disk from the boot sector or something like that, so that de drive can’t be easily read in any computer.


How about getting a removeable drive bay and physically lock the drive safely away somewhere, since your post seems to imply that theft is a concern?

[Paul Komski]

Just in case we are going off at tangents I had a re-read of your other post regarding this issue; so let me see if I can recap on the basics and let us know if any of it is wrong.
[list=a]
There is a tracking inventory database of sensitive data in Cobol 85.
The database needs to be used in three standalone locations, all using WinME.
The front end is presumably installed on each pc using Cobol 85.
The back-end data (format unknown) is kept on a removable Flash Card which is read using a USB reader (which functions like an ATA drive).
The data on the cards is secure in that the cards can be removed and the data backed-up independently.
When the card/reader are in use, access could be prevented by simply removing the small hot-swappable device BUT you don't want to do this and instead prevent easy access to the data in another manner.
[/list=a]
So if this is right, the answer could lie in a software solution that involves password access of the backend data.

Cobol 85 has Access ODBC connectivity; COBOL with ODBC Tips. (http://www.adtools.com/support/tip_odbc.htm) It should be easy enough to connect to a password-protected back-end database (such as a MSAccess Database) on which you would maintain the raw data and which could also be encrypted if you required.

In short: work towards preventing access to the data rather than the whole drive.

[mesc]

Hy guys,

Sorry for the delay in replying, but I’ve been kind of busy.

Mjc, your link proved very useful at it is very much in line with what I need, so I’ll give it a try.

Paul, you are mostly right, but to set things straight, I’ll add this

1-Both front end and back end are on the CF card, and no front end need to be installed
2- The program runs on all windows 95 to Me, I hav’nt tried in Xp yet.
3-Data is baked up and encrypted in all of the Pc’s I run
4-Efectively the data is protected by removing the card from the reader, but my concern is in the case I either lose the card, it is stolen, or simply left by mistake at the computer.

The databases in Cobol are well protected in the sense that you can’t modify the data without knowing the field’s indexes, so data alterations are not the concern. Other types of data such as excel files and text files are already encrypted, the problem is that the Cobol data files can be easily read with a text editor, besides in the process of encrypting/decrypting files I could forget to do a file or so, leaving data exposed.

My other concern is if the encryption process can generate errors on the data.

Thanks a lot for your interest