protecting harddisk

sebas · #1 August 10th, 2004, 02:10 AM

I want to protect my external harddisk (firewire) with a password
is this possible?????
My client wants a backup on disk, but i don't want him to use the disk to go to a competitor company (what happend to me in the past

)

Pengu · #2 August 10th, 2004, 02:34 AM

Um. I think i missed the point. What is it exactly that is on the hard disk? What is a competitor going to do with it?

sebas · #3 August 10th, 2004, 02:49 AM

the harddisk contains a full backup of his work we have created for him.
He wants this backup for if my company gets burned to the ground or goes bankrupt.
As both things will never happen (i strongly hope) i want to protect my work on the disk with a password.
When something happens to my company (and i still hope it will never happen) he can get the password.

Another compay asked for a bachup before in the past and after he get his hands on the backup, we never seen hem back with any work again.
they gave my backup to a competitor company and now they are making money with my documents.
That aint fair at all.

Pengu · #4 August 10th, 2004, 03:11 AM

So just put the documents into a zit/stuffit archive with a password. or encrypt the files using a unix tool.

maybe put a disk image on the drive, and encrypt/password protect it.

ora · #5 August 10th, 2004, 03:36 AM

Definitely go for the encrypted disk image (dmg) file. With password protected stuffit files you can still see the contents if not open them (though you can stop this by making an archive file like a .tar then stuffing that).

Encrypted dmg files use aes which is pretty secure, and can easily be made read/write disks, so once mounted they work just like a normal drive, whereas with stuffit files you have to make a new one every time you want to change the contents. I use encrypted dmgs for a lot of sensitive documents, and it works great.

Alternatively you could get hold of PGP and use PGPdisks which are very secure indeed- though you only get it with the paid for version of PGP.

Zammy-Sam · #6 August 10th, 2004, 03:59 AM

Another option:

Quote:

Data Keeper is an secure data editing and storage application for MacOS X. It is useful for keeping track of private information such as passwords, medical records, insurance information, diaries, and much more. Data Keeper features strong encryption, richtext and image support, pass-phrase generator, support for keys on removeable media, and more.

Download the freeware here.

lnoelstorr · #7 August 10th, 2004, 04:03 AM

Yeah, and get them to sign an NDA or something too, and sue them to hell if they steal your work.

Satcomer · #8 August 10th, 2004, 04:18 AM

Maybe something like SharePoints would help you out.