I have recently bought an external hard drive for backing up all my business stuff which is great no problem, but once I copy folders from "my" part of the computer they are available on the external hard drive for anyone else using the computer to see.
Is there any way I can make them private or somehow password protect the external hard drive so others cannot access it? (I've looked at the normal "sharing" stuff within XP but any of the options re sharing are "greyed out" so you can't access them. I'm using XP home SP2 with all current updates.

[Edited on 17/9/08 by russbost]

depends how technical you want to get but an easy way is to use Winzip if you puchase the full ver you can encrypt them as well as shrink em all at the same time. ( I think you might need to purchase the full ver rather than the freebi one )

Oh the zip that is bundeled with XP cant encrpt BTW.

regards

Agriv8

If you want to go the zip route the IZARC will do the job for free. There's a number of free backup programs around that will automate the process (none of which I've tried). None of these stop someone seeing the file and deleting or damaging the data however.

For family and friends in a similar position to the OP I recommend a Network Attached Storage (NAS) box. Not much more than a similarly sized external drive price-wise but they offer secure file storage areas for several users and shared areas etc. With a properly set up NAS box users cannot see each other's data so you don't need to encrypt it. Buffalo, Netgear and many others make NAS devices.

At home I use Windows Home Server which also manages automatic backups but that's probably a step too far.

Cobian backup ( http://www.educ.umu.se/~cobian/cobianbackup.htm ) is free and will let you do encrypted backups in standard Zip format.

It is important that any backup program you choose uses a standard format such as zip or rar because this dosen't lock you into any particular backup program to restore the files at a future date,.

Cobian will do either one click backup or automated backup it can run as a NT/XP service.
Cobian can also backup to CD rom or DVD Rom but it not the best way to do use it particularly if you want to do unattended backups.


I also recommend using a NAS drive rather than USB --- apart from security issues I have found USB drive enclosures aren't reliable if left connected for long periods.



A NAS drive connected to your network not only provides more security but can be left running 24/7/365 as it will power down and wake up its' hard disk on demand.

My own network has used a cheap NAS storage unit from Maplin. The NAS unit can act as an ftp server so Backups are done using Cobian via FTP and this keeps them seperate from the normal Windows shares and invisible & secure from normal users but easy to access via Filezilla.
(Filezilla Client http://filezilla-project.org/index.php )

Maplin NAS HD enclosure just add any ATA133 HD disk ( http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=97390 )
This unit can also work as a normal USB disk.
This set up has been running for just on two years 24/7 without missing a single dailly backup.

[

[Edited on 17/9/08 by britishtrident]

Mate,

All you need is one (of many available) file/folder locking programs available. Most offer free trials. "Folder Locker" is one such program I remember.

We paid around £15 for the one SWMBO used to hide her bodily flea bite photos! (long story of pikey tennants and their flea infested cats!!!).



Failing that, I've just bought the sexiest USB fingerprint reader by Eikon. I'm pretty sure the software that comes with it can lock/unlock folders. The brand is 'Eikon' and it's about £30. Once setup it alos makes typing in passwords a thing of the past!

[Edited on 17/9/08 by The Great Fandango]

quote:

---

Originally posted by The Great Fandango
Mate,

All you need is one (of many available) file/folder locking programs available. Most offer free trials. "Folder Locker" is one such program I remember.

We paid around £15 for the one SWMBO used to hide her bodily flea bite photos! (long story of pikey tennants and their flea infested cats!!!).



Failing that, I've just bought the sexiest USB fingerprint reader by Eikon. I'm pretty sure the software that comes with it can lock/unlock folders. The brand is 'Eikon' and it's about £30. Once setup it alos makes typing in passwords a thing of the past!

[Edited on 17/9/08 by The Great Fandango]

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Agriv8
depends how technical you want to get but an easy way is to use Winzip if you puchase the full ver you can encrypt them as well as shrink em all at the same time. ( I think you might need to purchase the full ver rather than the freebi one )

Oh the zip that is bundeled with XP cant encrpt BTW.

regards

Agriv8

---

Russ, if you can format the external drive as NTFS rather than FAT32, then you should be able to use the standard Windows security/file sharing options.

As usual all very informative, thanx for the help guys.