There are two internal hard drives in my computer. One, which has been
assigned the drive letter C, contains the operating system (Windows
XP) and other installed software. The other, which has been assigned
the drive letter E, contains personal files.

I would like to place a simple password upon the second hard drive ("E").

1) It isn't necessary for the contents of this drive to be encrypted.
2) I don't wish to create a single huge password-protected file that
contains all of my files (a la BestCrypt or, at a simpler level,
WinZip). This is too slow and cumbersome for my taste, as I want
constant, immediate access to these files.

Basically, what I have in mind is that opening the E drive in Windows
Explorer requires entering a password. In other words, the password
shouldn't merely protect the files from being opened, edited or
deleted. It should protect the entire drive (or a root directory, if
you will) from being accessed at all.

Furthermore, it shouldn't be necessary to install costly software to
perform this function. Ideally, acessing and password-protecting the
drive shouldn't require extra software at all. If this isn't possible
to do without extra software, then the software should be freeware (or
very cheap), small, and free of annoying ads and spyware.

Thanks!

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Clarification of Question by rowl-ga on 12 Nov 2005 17:14 PST

Let me add that access of the disk shouldn't merely be restricted
while running Windows. It should also be restricted in DOS mode.

Ideally, access should still be restricted if someone were to
physically remove the hard disk from my computer and attach it to a
different computer. However, this is not absolutely necessary.

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Request for Question Clarification by sublime1-ga on 12 Nov 2005 19:18 PST

rowl...

I don't see any freeware solutions, but why not just use
Windows to change the ownership and access rights? You 
can either sign in as, and make access exclusive to, the
Administrators only, or create a new user with 
administrative rights, sign in as that user, and make it
available only to that user.

Default access is "everyone", so this would seem like a
simple approach. The password allowing access would be
the Windows password for the only user with permission
to access the drive.

You can change this by r-clicking on the hard drive and
selecting Properties, then going to the Security tab, in
Windows Explorer.

Let me know where this takes you...

sublime1-ga

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Clarification of Question by rowl-ga on 13 Nov 2005 13:07 PST

Sublime,

If I understood you correctly, to restrict access to this drive, using
your method, I should simply log off as Administrator. Whenever I want
to regain access to the drive, I should log back on as Administrator.

Sure, it's not quite the solution I was looking for, but I guess
that'll work. In any case, under the "Security" tab, I made sure that
the drive can only be accessed via the Administrator account. Since
this computer is always on, and since nobody uses it except me, I
suppose I'll simply log off and leave the computer running at the
login prompt whenever I'm not at the console.

Thanks. Let me know if that's what you meant.

rowl...

Yes, you understood me correctly. I'll repeat my answer here
for the sake of future readers:

------------------------------------------------------------

Why not just use Windows to change the ownership and access
rights? You can either sign in as, and make access exclusive
to, the Administrators only, or create a new user with 
administrative rights, sign in as that user, and make it
available only to that user.

Default access is "everyone", so this would seem like a
simple approach. The password allowing access would be
the Windows password for the only user with permission
to access the drive.

You can change this by r-clicking on the hard drive and
selecting Properties, then going to the Security tab, in
Windows Explorer.

------------------------------------------------------------

If, as you stated, you "under the 'Security' tab...made
sure that the drive can only be accessed via the Administrator
account", then only when you sign in as the "Administrator",
will the disk be available. There is another option in that
list which lets you make it available to "Administrators",
plural, which you could use to make it available to any and
all users to whom you have assigned administrative priveleges,
but if you have set it to the singular "Administrator", only
the main administrative account will be able to access it.

You can test this by simply signing in as "Guest", with no
password, and verifying that you cannot access the drive.


Please do not rate this answer until you are satisfied that  
the answer cannot be improved upon by way of a dialog  
established through the "Request for Clarification" process. 

sublime1-ga


Searches done, via Google:

"password protect a hard drive"
://www.google.com/search?q=%22password+protect+a+hard+drive%22

"password protect a hard drive" freeware
://www.google.com/search?q=%22password+protect+a+hard+drive%22+freeware

Not quite the elegant solution I was looking for, but it'll do.

Maybe you want a disk that has a password feature on it.
I've read that modern ATA disks (>20Gb) have this whether you like it or not.

http://www.heise.de/ct/english/05/08/172/

Thanks for your comment, Bozo99. I don't believe my hard disk has this
feature, but I'll check. I'm probably not going to buy a new hard disk
though. :-)

check out http://www.SilentFront.com (there are many similar products
on net) These software encrypt your hard disk and turn it into a file,
you would would mount the encrypted segment as a volume and use it as
a disk.


Software like above cost in range of 50$

I want to to the exact same thing, I would really prefer a way of
setting a password for accessing a drive or directory, or erasing it.
I tried to make it inaccessible with the aforementioned method, but
for some reason that option can't be checked and the text is gray, so
I'm back searching for some way of password securing stuff.
I really can't believe there's no simple, free way of achieving this.
Considering all the unnecessary crap-programs you can find on the web,
surely someone, at one time or another, must have decided to write
something as useful and straightforward as this.
So if anyone knows... I really need this, someone erased all my
photos's and music because there was a song called 'virus' in my
directory. That's what I'm dealing with here.

if for any reason one want to get rid an ATA PASSWORD this tool may help:

www.hdd.profesjonalnie.pl/to.html

King