Protecting your USB stick in order to prohibit unauthorized access to files can be a good solution when we use these drives in the office or in very crowded places, so as to protect the data contained in them in the event of theft or loss, in particularly if you tend to carry important files and data on your USB stick, which relate to your work and social or private life. To prevent data inside any USB stick from being read by unauthorized people, in this guide we will see how to password protect a USB stick using both third-party programs and using tools made available in the latest versions of Windows .
It's up to us to choose the method we prefer to use, since all of them are effective but use different methods to protect the data stored on the USB stick.
READ ALSO -> Protect your computer with a BIOS or UEFI password
1) VeraCrypt
This program is one of the best that we can use for the purpose, since it ensures almost insurmountable security and protection.
VeraCrypt is the only program that works on Windows, Linux and Mac and we can download it for free from here -> VeraCrypt .
Once the suitable version for our operating system has been downloaded and installed, all we have to do is insert the USB stick, empty it of any content still present (we can also temporarily move the files already present on a folder on the PC) and open the VeraCrypt program.
Now click on the Create a volume button and select the item Encode a non-system partition / disk in the window that appears.
In the next screen select Standard Volume VeraCrypt and click Next, then select the USB stick that we intend to protect using the Select Drive button in the screen that you will see.
Now click on Next and select the Create and format encrypted volume item, then click Next again.
In the encoding screen to be used, make sure that AES and SHA-512 is selected, then click Next .
We confirm on Next in the volume size screen (which will correspond to the maximum capacity of the USB stick) and we finally arrive at the screen where to choose the password with which to protect the USB stick.
Enter the chosen password in the two fields at the top and click Next ; in the last screen we select the desired file system ( FAT or NTFS ), move the mouse randomly until the bar at the bottom is completely green and finally click on Format .
Creation of the encrypted volume will begin, which could take up to 15-30 minutes for larger USB sticks.
At the end we will have created a protected USB stick that we can only open with VeraCrypt.
To show the protected volume, choose one of the letters for the unit within the program (different from the one already used before by the USB stick) and select the Automatic assembly key to open the protected volume (after entering the password).
In order to always carry VeraCrypt with us, we can also download the portable version of the program, available here -> VeraCrypt Portable .
READ ALSO: Protect the data of a USB stick with VeraCrypt
2) BitLocker
On the latest versions of Windows intended for professional use, we can use the Bitlocker tool, which allows you to set passwords on USB sticks and external hard drives.
On Windows 10 Professional we can start BitLocker by typing the name of the tool in the start menu and opening the BitLocker Management program.
In the window that will open we can choose the drive or USB drive to be protected, so as to quickly set an access password to be able to access the USB stick.
We activate BitLocker and assign an access password.
The only limitation of this solution is related to the nature of the encryption: we can open the key only with BitLocker which, if not supported, will be installed.
To learn more, read the Bitlocker encryption guide on Windows 10 and 7 for disks and USB drives
3) USB Flash Security
To put a password to access the USB stick you can use the program The USB Flash Security program of which there is a free version (just click on the Download Free Edition button).
Among the most important functions there are, automatic encryption, auto-locking of the pen every time you disconnect it and the ability to protect even sticks.
After installing it on your computer, you can click on the UsbEnter.exe file to open the program interface.
All the computer drives, both internal hard disks and USB sticks, will be visible on the window; just select the drive you want to password protect and click the Install button (never use this software with hard drives or internal partitions).
After pressing the confirmation button, the USB stick is reformatted, all data inside is deleted and protection with the chosen password is put in place.
The USB disk label is changed to " USBENTER ".
From this moment, any computer you use, after inserting the USB stick, you are asked for the password to access the files.
If the password entered is incorrect, an error message is displayed, warning that it is impossible to view, copy, paste and save files on that disk.
4) USB SafeGuard
USB SafeGuard is an even simpler program because it is portable and requires no installation on your computer.
After the download you just have to transfer the downloaded file to the USB stick and then open it.
Immediately you will have to choose the password and the pen will be immediately protected.
The password may or may not be saved in a file on the stick so that you can recover it if you forget it.
The protection is very similar to that of a Zip archive, therefore good but not at the levels of VeraCrypt (which in our opinion remains the best system to effectively protect USB sticks).
5) SafeHouse Explorer
SafeHouse Explorer is a simple tool to put the password on the USB stick and make the files inside it unusable or visible for those who do not know it.
Just start the program, choose the partition or USB drive to protect, enter the password and click Finish .
From now on we will be able to access that USB stick only by correctly typing the password created with the program.
6) Conclusions
For all these programs we must be absolutely careful not to forget the password because otherwise the data inside will be lost and there may also be some difficulty in reformatting the key (this is however a solvable problem).
If we want to secure data and files on our Android smartphones, we can read the following guide.
READ ALSO -> Securing the data of an Android mobile phone in 10 ways
