How to protect your computer from viruses on an external HDD? How to protect an external hard drive with a password yourself. The easiest ways to protect your hard drive from viruses
There are a lot of ways to protect your flash drive using additional software. In this article we will look at a simple and free method without installing any additional applications. This method also applies to external hard drives.
- Step 1. Change the file system.
After purchasing a flash drive, insert it into your computer/laptop and start formatting
Select the NTFS file system. It has many advantages over FAT32: it copies files larger than 4 GB and has a high level of security. It is better not to use “quick formatting” (option below), because... it does not physically delete files, but only erases their names. If desired, the attacker can restore everything.
- Step 2. Create a folder on the flash drive.
Create any folder on the drive for your files/documents. This is important, we will return to this below.
- Step 3. Block external access to files.
Flash drive properties -> Security -> Edit
- Step 4. Allow writing/execution of a separate folder.
Let's return to the previously created folder (see Step 2). Let's open access specifically to this folder to write/read/execute files. To do this, go to the properties of this folder, Security tab, Edit.
As a result, we prohibited the recording and execution of programs and files on all external media, except for our folder and the files inside it.
This method does not guarantee absolute protection if you use external media on other people's computers, which may be infected with viruses.
Previously, we talked about how you can encrypt a hard drive in a computer so that no one can access the files and programs stored on it, even if they manage to get it out and connect it to another device. Today we will tell you how to use the same encryption method for external storage media, for example, flash drives and portable hard drives.
How to encrypt an external drive using BitLocker:
1. Connect a flash drive or other storage device to the USB port of your computer.
2. Open Control Panel and go to BitLocker Drive Encryption.
3. Find the drive you want to encrypt in this section and click “Enable BitLocker.”
4. A dialog box will open with a choice of encryption options.
5. Follow the instructions and create a password (complex - with letters in different cases and numbers) and save the key to restore access. This key can be stored in your Microsoft account, a file saved to another medium, or printed on paper. Keep in mind that to restore access to the encrypted media if you forget the password, in addition to this key, you will also need to provide your Microsoft account login and password.
6. Select which files you want to encrypt - all recorded on the media or only those that will be copied to it in the future. In the second case, only new files will be protected, but encryption will be faster.
7. Select an encryption method: the new one, in which the drive will be impossible to unlock on earlier versions of Windows, or the old one, used in Windows 7, 8 and 10.
8. The drive will be encrypted, after which you can start using it.
Now, every time you connect the drive to your computer, you will be asked for a password. If you are sure that no one will use your computer except you, you can add it to the trusted ones, indicating that in the future you will not be asked for a password to decrypt data on it. In this case, the password will only be required if your drive is connected to another device.
You can use the drive on a trusted computer in the same way as if it were not encrypted, because you will not need to enter a password. In this case, the drive will remain protected when connected to other computers. In any case, using BitLocker will not affect the speed of writing and reading files.
You can change the password set on the drive through the “BitLocker Drive Encryption” section in the “Control Panel”.
How to password protect your external hard drive
What should you do to protect external media with a password yourself?
Protecting data on such devices is possible through the use of special utilities. After searching the Internet, I found that the most effective and easiest were TrueCrypt, Folder Guard, Disk Password Protection and Cryptainer + DecypherIT. Finding and downloading them is not difficult. My task is to explain to you *how to protect an external hard drive with a password* after installing these utilities.
It is better that the external hard drive is empty before the process. This way it’s faster to work with it and there will be no fear of data loss in case of your wrong actions. If you need to password protect a device with data, I advise you to copy it to your computer.
Now let's look at the use of each of the utilities in more detail.
TrueCrypt
What we do:
1) launch TrueCrypt;
2) click “Create volume”;
3) select “Encrypt non-system partition”, click next;
4) select “Regular volume”, then further;
5) click the “Device...” button, find and click our device and click ok;
6) then the Volume creation mode window will open. Select the first item if you have cleared or copied your information to another medium. If you haven’t taken care of this, select the second item and wait a longer time than in the first case;
7) in the encryption settings window, leave everything as it is and click next;
8) now we indicate a code of 20 characters and symbols;
9) the Format Volume window appears. To File. syst. select NTFS, leave the rest unchanged and click Partition;
10) encryption has started. The completion time depends on the size of the drive and the data available on it. So a blank external drive of 1 TB is processed for more than an hour;
11) When finished, click ok and exit. We are thrown into the main menu, where we need to assign a free letter to the volume and then select our drive;
12) ok/mount/code/ok.
That's all - the device was protected with a password.
Folder Guard
After launching it, a window appears in which the connected devices are visible. Click on your connected media with the left mouse button and proceed to install the encryption. It's quite simple. Left-click “Lock with password” and enter the invented numbers and symbols in the top line. And at the bottom we repeat them. Then confirm by clicking OK in subsequent windows. At the end you will be asked to save your settings. You save them and close everything.
Next, when you try to open the hard drive, you will be prompted to enter a code. And when you close it, a window will pop up asking whether to leave it classified. If you leave it, then you will enter the code every time you open it. If not, then the hard drive will again be in the public domain and in order to password protect it you will have to go through the procedure again.
Cryptainer + DecypherIT
As usual, launch the installed Cryptainer. We see pop-up tips in windows asking you to enter encryption parameters. We do everything they ask. We indicate the location of the encrypted device, its size and password. Next, we get acquainted with the program’s useful features, which appear in new windows and tell you *how to password protect an external hdd* yourself. Then we indicate the path to our disk and click Load.
This is how we encrypted the external media. Using this utility, you can password protect anything you want, even individually: sound, video, text files, etc.
If the Cryptainer program is not available, to view the data you will need the DecypherIT utility and your previously entered secret code.
Disk Password Protection.
Like previous utilities, we also install this one on our computer and run it. In the window that opens, select what we want to hide from unnecessary people and launch the “Protection Wizard”, checking “Master” and “Protection”. Then we indicate the type of hard drive to be protected and continue by clicking “Next”.
The following actions must be performed in accordance with the requests that appear in the new windows. Then, in a special form, you need to indicate the invented complex code and confirm it by typing it again in another line.
The program also allows you to set a hidden protection mode. To do this, after entering the password, check the box for this mode and click “Next”. The last step and everything is protected from outsiders.
Personal opinion
If these programs seem too abstruse for you and you are already tired of searching, downloading and installing many encryption utilities, I offer an alternative to your suffering - a hdd with built-in encryption. He does everything himself: encrypts and decrypts data. And you don't need to install anything additional. However, there are also disadvantages. If the controller or other electronics fails, there will be no chance to transfer data from the device to another medium.
Set a password on your external hard drive- this is the right thing. All information must be private and no one should use it. So you are on the right track. Choose the program you like and protect your data. Just don’t forget to write down the password you created somewhere. Memory can sometimes fail and everything will turn out to be inaccessible even to you.
To the question How to protect a portable HDD from viruses? In order to be calm when you insert it into a computer that does not have an antivirus. given by the author Donnie Darko the best answer is If you use only Venda for all purposes, no. But I would absolutely not recommend this kind of work to anyone.
Here is the most reliable recipe:
1. Do not use Venda to work with a removable hard drive on your machine. The dual boot with Venda should have Linux for dirty environments - in particular, for such disks.
2. Nail (with Linux) potentially infected files on a removable disk after it has been used on someone else’s machine with Venda without an antivirus. These are autorun.inf, desktop.htt, folder.htt, everything that these three refer to, and the RECYCLER or RECYCLED folder with all its contents.
Answer from 22 answers[guru]
Hello! Here is a selection of topics with answers to your question: How to protect a portable HDD from viruses? In order to be calm when you insert it into a computer that does not have an antivirus.
Answer from Strabismus[guru]
no no - besides it will take several hours depending on the volume
and wait several hours for verification every time - no one will agree
you have to watch where you put it
there are some blockers for individual attacks - autorunner tap - that's all
Answer from Neurologist[guru]
No way. You can download and block Autorun.inf for recording. The disc will become "safe" for normal double-click opening. But the risk that an evil virus will gnaw on the files remains.
Answer from Interrogative[guru]
if a virus enters the system, then it will be fast there, and it doesn’t need your external one... it has nothing to take from your external one... I see you don’t worry about the system at all, but are afraid for the disk :))
Answer from Alspas[guru]
The Panda USB Vaccine program is a free “vaccination” of flash drives against viruses.
Protect USB devices.
Removable devices (memory cards, USB flash drives, MP3 players, digital cameras, etc.) are often used by attackers to distribute malware. Malicious programs distributed through removable devices use (on these devices) the AutoRun file. Malicious programs (mostly from the Conficke category of “worms”) rewrite (modify) the source code in the file. This allows the malicious program to start automatic installation (injection into the computer) when a removable device is connected to the computer.
To prevent this process, you must disable the AutoRun file on the removable device (and in such a way that it cannot be read, modified, or moved by malicious code), as well as the autorun function in Windows. But these processes (manual shutdowns) are not simple and are incomprehensible to most ordinary users.
To automatically solve this problem, an excellent free program, Panda USB Vaccine, was developed. The program is very simple. A beginner can handle “vaccinating” removable devices against viruses (!!!IT!!!) using this program.
you can download Panda USB Vaccine 1.0.1.16
link
although it starts with protecting flash drives from viruses, it goes on to protect flash drives, and a USB HDD is, in fact, a large flash drive :)
We bring to your attention an overview of the most popular hardware and software for encrypting data on an external hard drive.
Let's start with the simplest. Mac OS X has a built-in Disk Utility that allows you to create an encrypted disk image. You can also use third-party software to encrypt files or folders, for example, FileWard,. In addition, some backup applications offer encryption of backups out of the box.
These methods are good. But sometimes using software encryption is not the best option. For example, when you need to encrypt Time Machine backups. To protect such backups, you will have to do some tricky manipulations, because Time Machine does not support encryption. Conventional software will not help when you need to create an encrypted copy of the boot disk so that it remains bootable. Encrypted disks also have another limitation: they cannot be used on other computers (Mac or PC) without special software.
is one of those applications that allows you to encrypt the contents of a disk, which remains bootable and usable on Mac and PC. This is a great application, but to access information, PGP must be installed on each computer to which such a drive is connected. Also, if the disk is damaged, encryption may prevent data recovery.
If you need a universal solution that does not impose restrictions on disk usage, you should purchase a HDD with built-in encryption. The drive encrypts and decrypts data on its own, so there is no need to install additional software. In this case, the disk can be used as a boot volume or for Time Machine. One caveat: if the drive's controller or other electronics fail, you will not be able to transfer data from the device (even with fully working mechanics) until the HDD is fully restored.
Encryption-enabled hard drives come in several types, depending on the decryption mechanism:
Hardware keys
Some manufacturers offer encrypting HDD boxes that are locked using a physical device. As long as the key is present (connected or near the disk), the disk can be read.
HDDs of this type: RadTech’s ($95), RocStor and several devices from ($50+). All boxes have two or three compatible keys, which are connected to a special port on the device. SecureDISK offers with an infrared key (the media must be nearby to use the disk).
Fingerprint scanners
If you are worried about losing physical media, then you can look towards HDD boxes with a fingerprint scanner. A few examples: MXI Security ($419-$599) and LaCie ($400 for a 2GB model). (Some older models of LaCie boxes, 2.5″ format, do not encrypt data, but use less reliable locking in the firmware). These drives are easy to use and can store fingerprints of up to five people. It is worth noting that there are several techniques for deceiving the finger scanner (without the presence of the original finger).
Keyboard
($230-480) – encrypting disk boxes that do not require physical keys or biometric readers. Instead, the keyboard is used to enter a password (up to 18 characters). Using a keyboard instead of a physical key is convenient when the disk often passes between hands. The drives support a “self-destruct” feature that deletes all stored information after several unsuccessful password attempts.
Two types of authentication
At least one product offers a combination of a physical key (in the form of a smart card) and a built-in keyboard in a compact disk shell. This option for protecting your hard drive is the most reliable, since to access information the user must have a key and know the secret password.
