How To Password Protect A USB Flash Drive

USB flash drives are great but how to password protect your USB flash drive just in case it gets lost?

Being able to carry around lots of files in a small device that easily fits your pocket is something fairly new to most of us. Until recently, we used floppy disks or burned information to a CD. But all that's changed with the advent of neat little USB flash drives that can hold gigabytes of data - ideal for the files that you need access to regardless of where you are.

Individual files can easily be password protected. PDFs, Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, Access databases can all have a password set when you save them. This makes them reasonably safe from prying eyes. I say reasonably safe as nothing is completely uncrackable. Sorry.

But what do you do if you want to protect more of your files than just a few? Or if you'd prefer the convenience of only typing in one password and then everything it was protecting becomes available?

If you don't mind the hassle, there's a free program called Cryptania LE. It's easy enough to use and free to download but you need to split your USB drive up into 25Mb segments. Nowadays, that's pretty small. Just a handful of full resolution photographs from your digital camera, for instance.

Failing that, you will need to find a program that password protects individual folders on your flash drive. These programs are quite inexpensive and quite convenient.

Just remember the password you choose and don't keep it anywhere obvious. Which means that scribbles on the USB drive itself and Post-It notes would be bad ideas!

Find out more ways to password protect your USB flash drive and keep your confidential data safe and secure at http://www.squidoo.com/passwordprotectusb

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