How to encrypt your USB flash drive

Posted on September 18, 2009 at 5:21 am

USB flash drives are great because they are really cheap and you can conveniently move data between computers. The only problem is when you store sensitive data on a USB drive and it gets lost or stolen!

Most people are intimidated by the words “encryption” because it involves fancy algorithms and names like “WPA, EFS, SHA1, etc”. However, there’s a very easy way to encrypt a USB drive in Windows.

If you want to encrypt files on your computer, read my previous post on how to encrypt your hard drive using BitLocker. If you have lots of sensitive data on a laptop, you should read those articles on how to encrypt your computer data.

Ok, so getting back to USB drives! We will use Windows Encrypting File System to create an encrypted folder on a thumb drive that only one user account on one computer can read. Later we’ll talk about how you can view those files on another computer, but for now we’ll focus on just having a secure USB drive.

Step 1 – Format USB drive in NTFS format

Firstly, you have to make sure the USB drive is formatted in NTFS format. Most USB drives are formatted in FAT16 or FAT32 format, which does not support encryption at all.

Luckily, I have already written a post on how to format a USB drive in NTFS format, which walks you through the process step by step.

format usb ntfs

Step 3 – Create an Encrypted Folder

Ok, now that your USB drive is in NTFS format and all the data has been erased, we can setup a folder that will contain all the encrypted data.

What I like about this method is that you can store all the sensitive files in the encrypted folder, but store other files normally outside the folder. That way, you can still pop the USB drive into someone else’s computer and they can view all the files not in the encrypted folder.

Go to My Computer, open the flash drive, right-click and choose New Folder. Name the folder anything you want, but try not to make it obvious that it has sensitive data otherwise people might be more inclined to try and get in.

Now right-click on the new folder and choose Properties. Click on the Advanced button in the Attributes section.

encrypt usb drive

Now check the Encrypt contents to secure data box. Click OK and click OK again to close out the dialogs.

encrypt content usb drive

Now you’ll see the folder is in green, which means the data is encrypted. That’s it! Now you have a folder on your USB drive that is fully encrypted and viewable only by your user account on that one computer.

Next week, I’ll talk about how you can export the EFS certificate from one computer to another, so that you can view the files on more than one PC. Enjoy!

» Filed Under Computer Tips

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Comments

23 Responses to “How to encrypt your USB flash drive”

  1. Mike said on : September 18th, 2009 at 6:52 am

    Won’t formatting to NTFS mean that if plugged into a Mac the drive won’t be recognised?


  2. George huang said on : September 18th, 2009 at 9:27 am

    Very good! This is an excellent way to store encrypted data on a USB drive!


  3. Jennifer Pham said on : September 18th, 2009 at 2:43 pm

    Does this tip only work for Windows XP? thanks


  4. naraiz said on : September 19th, 2009 at 8:52 pm

    This is a wonderful tip! I followed the instructions and now I have an encrypted folder on my thumb-drive. Thank you very much. I look forward to next weeks tip on opening the files up on another computer.


  5. sensiguard said on : October 8th, 2009 at 6:35 am

    hey thanks for sharing with us..very informative.


  6. Sajok said on : October 8th, 2009 at 8:35 am

    Free encryption utility I also find useful for Windows users is Rohos Mini Drive – easily creates password protected encrypted volume to store sensitive data. Great tool for students.


  7. Bev said on : November 6th, 2009 at 5:21 am

    “Next week, I’ll talk about how you can export the EFS certificate from one computer to another, so that you can view the files on more than one PC. Enjoy!” I can’t find this posting. Or is it still coming?


  8. paone said on : November 19th, 2009 at 3:26 am

    thanx……..how to partition a USB flash drive???


  9. Jay said on : December 2nd, 2009 at 12:30 am

    I thinks this method is quite easy for securing a flash drive, but if you want something more secure, then you should pay for it.

    softry.com/reviews/securityaprivacy/152-encrypt-your-usb-drives.html


  10. John Glenn said on : December 2nd, 2009 at 8:23 am

    You could also use Truecrypt in portable mode (http://www.truecrypt.org/docs/truecrypt-portable)


  11. bobby.tables said on : December 3rd, 2009 at 1:03 am

    I use TrueCrypt for encrypting my USB drives. It’s free, it’s for multiple OS and it’s Open Source so there are no back doors etc. There is also a portable version so you can put it on the drive as well to be able to open the encrypted files later even if TrueCrypt is not installed.


  12. Yvonne said on : December 22nd, 2009 at 9:13 pm

    The thing with Bitlocker is it doesn’t work with older Windows computers, so if you carry your USB flash drive around eventually you will not be able to use it on an older PC.

    I currently use WinEncrypt (http://www.winencrypt.com) CryptArchiver, it works on all Windows versions, and is portable so it’s fully installed on the drive itself. I believe you can use different types of encryption, and it adds an encrypted vault in ‘My Computer’.

    Best part is it’s simpler and faster than TC, my Granny uses it regularly.. in fact she introduced me to it – now how often can I say that?


  13. mike said on : December 22nd, 2009 at 11:21 pm

    The best software to encrypt your USB stick is TrueCrypt. It’s super secure and easy to setup.


  14. Fiona said on : January 27th, 2010 at 2:43 am

    “Next week, I’ll talk about how you can export the EFS certificate from one computer to another, so that you can view the files on more than one PC. Enjoy!” I can’t find this posting. Or is it still coming?

    Same query – January 2010


  15. George said on : March 13th, 2010 at 10:29 am

    I am looking for the posting on how to export ESF certificates from one computer to another.


  16. Sam said on : March 20th, 2010 at 6:30 am

    GiliSoft USB Stick Encryption helps you password protect USB drives, Thumb drives, Memory sticks, Pen drives, Jump drives and Flash drives.

    USB flash drives are the most popular way to move data from one PC to another. They are small in size but can carry gigabytes of data. They are easy to use, convenient, affordable, but at the same time they pose a security risk and can be easily lost, stolen or misplaced. A secure USB drive with password protection is a must these days as the data that it contains may cost you millions of dollars if stolen or lost.

    With GiliSoft USB Stick Encryption your USB flash drives and all other external storage devices can be very easily password protected. To protect your USB drives ,you can use GiliSoft USB Stick Encryption to install this encryption software onto your USB flash drive.After installing the software, the device will be password protected and encrypted by 256-bit AES. To access your data again, You can plug-in your USB drive into the computer and run the program “agent.exe” on your USB drive. To unprotect your secure USB drives, click ‘Uninstall’ and enter correct user name and password to uninstall this encryption software from the drive. Another great feature of GiliSoft USB Stick Encryption is that it divides USB drive into two areas: public area and secure area. You can store normal files in public area, and store sensitive data in secure area. On the contrary, all the files located in the secure area will be encrypted and absolutely private.


  17. Error 0 said on : April 5th, 2010 at 6:31 pm

    This is great IF you ONLY use the drive on the computer you encrypted it on. Remember that anyone with access to your user account can get at the files, and that it will be useless on other computers.

    I recommend Truecrypt.


  18. Jenny said on : April 5th, 2010 at 9:32 pm

    Thanks for tips, it is useful. And i find the following simple and powerful usb encryption software which allows you to encrypt your usb drive in several simple steps. And it is portable.


  19. Lin said on : April 22nd, 2010 at 9:38 am

    I use wondershare usb drive encryption for my protable storage media. it is easy to use and powerful. It’s not free, but really good if you want something that actually works.

    disk-utilities.com/usb-encryption/index.html


  20. C Fas said on : May 3rd, 2010 at 6:23 pm

    Thanks so much for all the encryption information, now that hackers have encrypted several usb drives and my entire hard drive. Thanks so much! Now can you tell average folk how to get the hackers out!


  21. John said on : May 16th, 2010 at 7:21 pm

    Here is a youtube video we made about this:

    How to encrypt a USB flash drive:

    youtube.com/watch?v=BvR7nnG8iiY&fmt=22

    Enjoy!


  22. Alex said on : July 2nd, 2010 at 9:12 am

    I use netwrix usb blocker. It does the trick without the encryption and it’s free. Works for me :)


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