I carry a 2Gb SD Card in my wallet almost every day. On the card, I have a complete portable suite of applications, pictures, movies, music and some personal data.

I keep it backed up occasionally, so I’m not worried if I lose it. However, I don’t want my personal data falling into the wrong hands. Up until recently, I’ve been using the free  Safehouse Explorer ^[1] to encrypt all that data. It’s a fantastic and easy to use encryption utility, but now I’m using an app that works better for me.

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Features:

Rohos Mini Drive (RMD) is a free encryption utility, especially designed to hide and protect data on a USB flash drive or other flash media, such as my SD card. RMD has a host of features that make it simple to manage hidden data on a flash drive. Here are a few:

• Creates a virtual encrypted partition (volume)
• Automatically detects your USB drive and helps create a new volume
• Portable works on a guest computer without Admin rights
• Volume is protected by password
• Encryption is automatic – on-the-fly’
• Encryption algorithm is AES 256 bit
• Virtual Keyboard – protects your password from keyloggers
• Autorun Folder – shortcuts that automatically start when volume is opened great for launching portable menus
• File Virtualization you can safely open files without them being decrypted to temporary space on the host PC
• FREE for non-commercial, personal use

Set-up and Use:

In preparation for installing Rohos, I cleaned off my SD card and inserted it into my laptop. Here’s the first screen I saw after installation finished.

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I clicked on the Setup USB Key. The next screen offered to create a new volume on my card.

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I wanted my hidden volume to be 1Gb and I wanted the drive letter to be Z:instead of the default R:. So I clicked on the top Changelink to make those changes.

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As you can see, I can change quite a few settings before I create a hidden volume. After clicking OK and then clicking the Create Diskbutton. I saw the following screen.

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After 2 or 3 minutes, this screen finally appeared.

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Ok, now I was ready to go. I looked on the SD Card, and there was only one file on it, about 773k in size. Well, that’s what it looked like anyway.

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There is actually a hidden partition in there and no matter how I tried, I couldn’t make it show up in Windows Explorer. That’s how it’s supposed to work. No data for anyone to see or steal.

I executed the Rohos mini.exe file, then I looked in Explorer to see if my new Z: drive would show up. Yes, it was there and here’s what I saw (below).

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RMD had created 4 empty folders for me to use. I didn’t expect that and now I understand one of the ideas behind that. They want you to be able to use the Autorun folder to launch portable apps when the drive is first opened.

After a few minutes, I had my programs and documents loaded in the new drive and now my SD card is ready for the road. Thank you Rohos!

Download Rohos Mini Drive

http://www.rohos.com/products/rohos-mini-drive/ ^[10]

Techie Buzz Verdict:

Awesome. I’m pleased with the features, ease of setup, ease of use, and the security. At this time, I can’t think of anything more I would need from Rohos Mini Drive. The only point I can deduct is that RMD is limited in some ways. Rohos has a full featured suite called Rohos Disk Encryption which is offered for $35 USD. I have no issues with that, and I have no hesitation in recommending RMD for anyone using a flash drive for personal data.

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Techie Buzz Rating: 4.5/5 (Nearly Perfect)