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

9 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???


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