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TICKET ARCHIVE -> Re: Encryption

cratediggah - Nov 3, 2005 - 8:24 am

Hi,

I've tried searching on my own but have not been successful. Is anyone aware of a disk encryption application that is compatible between WindowsXP & MacOSX?

Ie: I want to encrypt a USB drive that contains financial information, passwords, etc. and be able to use it seamlessly between my PC at work and my Mac at home.

Thanks!

BjarneDM - Nov 3, 2005 - 10:45 am

First of all, you'll have to format the USB drive so it uses a filesystem that works on both platforms. That means you'll have to format it while it's connected to the WindowsXP as the windows file format is supported by MacOSX while the reverse isn't necessarily true.

Now, as to the encryption application itself, how about PGP: http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/16529 . The description specifically states 'cross-platform compatibility with Windows'.

Good Luck
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Bjarne D Mathiesen ; København ; Danmark
Mac OS X 10.4.2 ; 2xTiBook + 15" iMac + MacMini

cratediggah - Nov 3, 2005 - 1:09 pm

Thanks for the quick reply. On Versiontracker.com the ratings for PGP9 are extremely poor. Does anyone have experience w/ this program? How well does it work? Thanks

BjarneDM - Nov 3, 2005 - 1:37 pm

I don't have any actual experience with PGP9, but it seems to me to be your only readily available option that works cross-platform.

I'll send the question back to the open pool for further consideration

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Bjarne D Mathiesen ; København ; Danmark
Mac OS X 10.4.2 ; 2xTiBook + 15" iMac + MacMini

ora - Nov 4, 2005 - 6:45 am

One alternative is GPG, the GNU privacy guard, essentially a free open source equivalent of PGP. I've used it without problems on Mac, and it says on the website it will also build on PC. the only issue here is that from my experience GPG requires a little techie knowledge to use, or at least set up, whereas PGP is in theory easy. That said, I'm no programmer and i found it easily achievable by following the instructions.

You can find GPG at http://www.gnupg.org/ with the Mac version at http://macgpg.sourceforge.net/ (with an excellent make tutorial at http://fiatlux.zeitform.info/en/inst...gp_macosx.html)

Since I'm more at the user- rather than expert level with encryption, i'll return this to the open pool again to try and find someone who can suggest other alternatives or walk you through the process.

Cheers

Owen
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ishan - Nov 5, 2005 - 8:20 am

Actually, I've used PGP for years, and the latest version works fine. You do have to read the "Read Me" and the manual, though (RTFM). Otherwise, you can really screw up your files, not to mention your system. PGP also offers good email customer support. Try it out.