straycat19 Posted December 7, 2018 Share Posted December 7, 2018 I didn't realize how many flash drives I had collected over the years until I started hunting for a specific file and couldn't remember which flash drive I had stored it on. How many flash drives you ask, well, I quit counting at 700. Here are some of them. These represent the following flash drive makers: PQI w/hardware lock, Kanguru w/hardware lock, Imation CLIP w/hardware lock, LaCie, Transcend, Sony, SanDisk, IBM, Targus, Pen Drive, PNY, Lexar, Corsair, Kingston, Samsung, Toshiba, Verbatim and specialty drives such as Kingston and Kanguru Workspace drives. The two drives at top center were give away 4GB drives by a university to encourage donations. They have nice leather cases with a snap on the drive to hold it in, chain connecting case and drive, and loop to hook it to a keychain. Would particularly like to point out the three drives in the lower right corner whose total purchase price was over $1000 at the time of purchase. They are an IBM 128MB in leather case with neck strap, a Targus 64MB black plastic drive, and a silver 256MB by Pen Drive. The pictures don't show all the drives because as I was dumping them on the table they started sliding off so I stopped. And I did find my file, it was on the last drive I looked at. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mp68terr Posted December 7, 2018 Share Posted December 7, 2018 44 minutes ago, straycat19 said: PQI w/hardware lock, Kanguru w/hardware lock, Imation CLIP w/hardware lock... Are there still flash drives on the market with hardware lock? Sometimes I'm missing floppies, it was so simple to write protect them. How did you find the file, checking the drives one by one? Maybe one day you could copy all on a HDD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
funkyy Posted December 7, 2018 Share Posted December 7, 2018 Jeezo Straycat, I thought I was bad with 4, plus 3 portable hard drives.....now you made me feel so inadequate!!!😀😀😀 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
straycat19 Posted December 8, 2018 Author Share Posted December 8, 2018 23 hours ago, mp68terr said: Are there still flash drives on the market with hardware lock? Sometimes I'm missing floppies, it was so simple to write protect them. How did you find the file, checking the drives one by one? Maybe one day you could copy all on a HDD Check out these sites for drives with locks https://www.amazon.com/lock-flash-drive/s?page=1&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Alock%20flash%20drive https://www.kanguru.com/storage-accessories/kanguru-ss3.shtml You will probably pay a premium price. The last two I bought were Kanguru and they were expensive. I don't recall the exact price but I suffered sticker shock. I checked every drive, moved data to one of my NAS units and formatted the drives. I still have a bag full of drives that contain data that I put aside for a while till I have time to actually go thru them. Most of them contain FLAC files that were ripped between 2001 and 2010 that were given to me by friends, probably somewhere in the neighborhood of 2-3TB. Found a link in my tech archive that tells how to write protect a standard flash drive, just in case you would like to try it. https://recoverit.wondershare.com/flashdrive-recovery/read-only-flash-drive.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mp68terr Posted December 8, 2018 Share Posted December 8, 2018 Saw something similar to this protection tutorial some time ago, might work if one trusts windows security policy! Anyway always good to know and will keep this link ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xpkRAKE Posted December 8, 2018 Share Posted December 8, 2018 I have never seen so many sticks in one place ❗ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
straycat19 Posted December 9, 2018 Author Share Posted December 9, 2018 On 12/8/2018 at 2:46 PM, mp68terr said: Saw something similar to this protection tutorial some time ago, might work if one trusts windows security policy! Anyway always good to know and will keep this link You could try a software solution such as USB Write Protect. Here is the information on it so you don't have to go to the website. http://nareshmdr.com.np/ http://nareshmdr.com.np/faq-frequently-asked-question-about-usb-write-protect/ How does USB Write Protect works? ‘USB Write Protect’ protects USB storage devices (ie. pen drive, memory cards etc.) from being written, modification and deletion of data and files in it by modifying windows registry. Does protection work if I plug in USB storage device to other computers? No, the protection will only remains in the computer in which it is enabled and will not work if you take the USB storage device and plug it into other computers. The windows shows ‘The device is write protected’ message even after I disabled the write protection. Then your USB storage device is physically damaged which is the common problem and can not be repaired by the software solutions like USB Write Protect and the only alternative is to replace it. Does it work in all version of Windows OS? Yes, but if you are using Windows Vista or newer version of Windows (i.e. Windows 7, 8, 8.1, 10), you need to run USB Write Protect in Administrative Privilege by right clicking on the program icon and clicking on ‘run as administrator’ to work properly. (See help in USB Write Protect for more details.) What if I forget the password? Download USB Write Protect Password Reset – 8 KB and run it, a user code will be shown, send it to ‘[email protected]” or post it to the comment section below. It's actually just a software program that does the same thing the manual edit does but adds a password and doesn't protect the drive if used on another computer. In that case you would need to use an encryption program and encrypt your flashdrive which would carry over to other systems. There are a ton of programs that will do that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mp68terr Posted December 10, 2018 Share Posted December 10, 2018 I don't trust much all these software-based protections, probably several ways to bypass them (?). As said above, hardware locks look more secure and encryption too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
straycat19 Posted December 10, 2018 Author Share Posted December 10, 2018 4 hours ago, mp68terr said: I don't trust much all these software-based protections, probably several ways to bypass them (?). As said above, hardware locks look more secure and encryption too. Very true. I checked the current prices on Amazon for the SS3 and FlashBlu30, both of which have hard drive locks and both of which I have. There is also a Kanguru FlashTrust with hardware locks. FlashBlu30 are the cheapest. For a 32GB drive the cost runs the gamut from $35 to $67. One company offers a 32GB SS3 for 46.30 but is is a third party with lousy ratings, unsent orders, no response to customers, and a ridiculous restocking fee on returned items. If you can afford them these are the way to go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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