External USB harddrive: Password Protect 1

[TopRung]

Here is the situation:

Using an external hardrive to store GHOST images of operating system builds. I want to password protect this drive from access. The password protection schemes I have seen are third party applications that are installed within the running OS. That makes no sense if you move the drive to another machine.

So, is there a way to secure this drive so that it can not be accessed by anyone without a password - no matter where the drive is used?????

 

[histobastifish]

Encryption should do what you want it to. Check out Digital Persona's biometric scanner encryption. Plus it has a whole load of other cool stuff right at the tip of your finger....pun intended.

 

[TopRung]

Yes, that would work, but not exactly what I am looking for. I was hoping for something that the external drive might support...kinda like a lower level BIOS type of protection that prompts you for a pw when the drive is plugged into and detected by a machine.

Any such beast out there?

 

[jaymaechtlen]

can you format it in NTFS and let NT (win2K/XP) encrypt it?

 

[TopRung]

Yes, it can be formatted with NTFS.

you mean setting permissions on the files/folders? Sorry for the ignorance.

 

[jaymaechtlen]

actually, I'm pretty ignorant on that topic- but here are some links

http://www.brienposey.com/kb/working_with_ntfs_encryption.asp

http://www.ntfs.com/ntfs-encrypted.htm

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308989/EN-US/

 

[TopRung]

::reading:: --- thank you for your interest and support. Ultimately, the more i think about it, it would have to be some type of utility inherent to the drive. At least for what i am trying to accomplish.

From what I gather from glancing at some of the topics, NTFS encryption applies to a user (as registered on the OS), so that doesn't seem to apply since the drive will move to other machines and another OS.


Thank you.

 

[digitalmaster]

This extract from the Symantec site may not answer your exact problem but you can password protect the image.

Situation:
You want to know how to protect image files through the use of a password.

Solution:
Ghost has the ability to password protect an image by using the -PWD switch during image creation. The syntax is:

GHOST -PWD=<password>

where <password> is the password you would like to use. The password can be up to 10 characters long. If you do not specify a password, Ghost will prompt you for one. The password is not case sensitive.

When restoring the image, you are prompted to enter the password before Ghost will allow the image to be restored.

CAUTION: Do not use a password that is over 10 characters in length. Ghost does not recognize a long password and will not allow access to the image file