USB sticks are handy technology – everyone agrees. Small and comfortable, they transport our data around until we need them. But their compactness holds a dangerous disadvantage. A stick of a few centimeters in size, transported in your pocket, is quickly lost. The personal data is then lost as well. The thought of what a stranger who finds your USB stick could do with the private pictures, videos or files is not necessarily pleasant. That’s why you should always protect USB sticks that you carry with you from accessing strangers. It’s easy to encrypt a USB stick with our step by step directions.
Special programs allow the encryption of personal data to prevent unauthorized access. However, with the help of a chosen password, the owner can access it without much detours. Following is a small guide with the help of a USB stick can be encrypted.
Encrypt a USB stick: step by step
01. First, the USB stick should be prepared and an encryption program like downloaded (there are many good free ones available online, such as TrueCrypt). On the website only the right operating system should be selected, under which the stick is to be encrypted. The software is provided for Windows, Mac and Linux.
02. Now run the program and select the button “Traveler Disk Setup” under the tab “Tools”.
03. Under “File setting”, the next step is to specify the drive on which the files are stored. It would be useful to specify the USB stick here. A look in the Explorer (Windows key + e) reveals the letter of the drive, which must be specified in the free field.
04. Under “AutoRun Configuration” can now be determined what should happen when the USB stick is plugged into the PC. The default setting “do nothing” says nothing should happen. With a tick at “Start TrueCrypt” the program Truecrypt is started automatically and the container (ie the encrypted drive) can be decrypted manually. The last option decrypts the container automatically as soon as it is plugged into the PC. In the free field below it must be specified.
05. Click on “Create” to prepare the stick for use with TrueCrypt. Subsequently, a confirmation message appears which acknowledges the successful operation.
06. Under “Tools” the button “Volume Creation Wizard” is selected and the standard encryption is confirmed with a click on “Next”.
07. The folder into which the encrypted data is to be stored is selected in the next step and confirmed again by clicking on “Next”.
08. Also in the next window it can be left at the standard values and confirmed with a click on “Next”.
09. Now enter the size of the container to be created in the free field and click on “Next” again.
10. So that no stranger can open the container, a password must be entered in the free field. Of course, as with passwords, this should not be too easy.
11. As an encryption method, “FAT” should be selected in the next window, as NFTS generally has no noteworthy advantages here. The step is confirmed with the command “Format”.
12. In the last step, it is only necessary to exit the program and remove the USB stick. If necessary, the stick can now be re-infected, whereupon the password must be entered. Then files can be stored in the container as long as they do not exceed the specified volume limit.
