Not a huge issue but, nonetheless, it could be. I have a laptop I use at work--I have experienced a couple of HD failures and one reformat (IT dept could not determine the root cause). Anyways, I purchased an external Seagate HD & Norton Ghost in an effort to back up my data on my own. Problem is--when I leave the office my drive is sitting there with tons of data and available to anyone with a USB port. Granted, 95 percent of this data is no big deal but some of it could represent a loss of numerous trade secrets. Is there a simple way to password protect access to this drive? I know there are programs out there to encrypt/hide certain folders but I would prefer to lock the entire drive. . .

you got me there - not my forté.

:ww: I stumped the man! :lol:

The safest, but most inconvienent way is to password protect each file. You can use other software like you mentioned, but if it is using a network security login to protect it, that means you'll not be able to use that external drive outside of the network.

What I do on mine is I also disconnect the drive and lock it in my desk (or my safe). Yes, in reality the desk is easy to get into, but its not visible, so most people do not know one even exists. I come in, plug in the laptop, plug in the USB drive and go to it. At the end of the day, shut them both down, disconnect the HD and laptop and put them both in thier places. A little more work, but I feel better about its security.

one problem w/password protection - i think it could still be accessed from a computer using linux if you mounted the drive properly. i could be wrong.

the only other thought that comes to mind is this: there are several programs out there which will hide or lock folders entirely. i don't know any of them per se, but i see them come through the newsgroups regularly.