How do I secure my external hard drive?

JohnC1989 · 01-26-2009, 02:55 PM

I am using a Packard Bell store and save 3500 to store music, photographs, movies and so on in order to keep my internal hard drive reasonably empty.

I want to secure this drive so only I can get access to it. I have thought about putting a password protect program on the drive. What has put me off using these programs is, I don't want to enter a password every time I click on the icon for my external drive. The other problem I found is that with certain programs once you enter the password that is it unlocked until you decide to put the password back. That is not ideal as I am more than likely to forget to secure the drive.

What I would like to do is make the drive only accessible on my user account. So other users on the machine would not be able see the drive never mind access it.

Is this possible?

**raptor_pa** · 01-26-2009, 03:42 PM

I'm going to assume you are using windows XP similar for Vista.
If not already use the convert command to convert the file system to NTFS disable simple file sharing then right click the root of the drive in my computer, select properties and set security permissions to just your account as full control remove the everyone user. Click the advanced button and check apply to all child objects. Be aware if you move the drive to another PC you will not have access.

JohnC1989 · 01-29-2009, 09:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by raptor_pa

I'm going to assume you are using windows XP similar for Vista.
If not already use the convert command to convert the file system to NTFS disable simple file sharing then right click the root of the drive in my computer, select properties and set security permissions to just your account as full control remove the everyone user. Click the advanced button and check apply to all child objects. Be aware if you move the drive to another PC you will not have access.

I am using XP home edition.

I am unsure about using the "convert command to convert the file system to NTFS disable simple file sharing". I don't know what I am doing here.

If I buy a new computer later on after carrying this out and want to connect my external hard drive to it. What would I need to do to get access on the new computer?

Cheers.

**raptor_pa** · 01-29-2009, 09:57 AM

You would need to take ownership of the files and folders, a couple of click.. open a command prompt and typ convert /? for full syntax on the convert command. syntax is
convert Driveletter: /fs:ntfs

01-26-2009, 02:55 PM	#1 (permalink)
JohnC1989 Registered User Join Date: Jan 2009 Posts: 4 OS: XP	How do I secure my external hard drive? I am using a Packard Bell store and save 3500 to store music, photographs, movies and so on in order to keep my internal hard drive reasonably empty. I want to secure this drive so only I can get access to it. I have thought about putting a password protect program on the drive. What has put me off using these programs is, I don't want to enter a password every time I click on the icon for my external drive. The other problem I found is that with certain programs once you enter the password that is it unlocked until you decide to put the password back. That is not ideal as I am more than likely to forget to secure the drive. What I would like to do is make the drive only accessible on my user account. So other users on the machine would not be able see the drive never mind access it. Is this possible?

01-26-2009, 03:42 PM	#2 (permalink)
raptor_pa Mod Hardware Team Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Central PA Posts: 4,863 OS: XP	Re: How do I secure my external hard drive? I'm going to assume you are using windows XP similar for Vista. If not already use the convert command to convert the file system to NTFS disable simple file sharing then right click the root of the drive in my computer, select properties and set security permissions to just your account as full control remove the everyone user. Click the advanced button and check apply to all child objects. Be aware if you move the drive to another PC you will not have access. __________________

01-29-2009, 09:57 AM	#4 (permalink)
raptor_pa Mod Hardware Team Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Central PA Posts: 4,863 OS: XP	Re: How do I secure my external hard drive? You would need to take ownership of the files and folders, a couple of click.. open a command prompt and typ convert /? for full syntax on the convert command. syntax is convert Driveletter: /fs:ntfs __________________