Can I write an Extension for External Harddisk

Question

I want to secure my external hard disk by writing sort of ShellExtension. But Shell extension is Workstation Specific.

Is there a way I can write an application that will show a authentication or an extension encrypt my drive data so user will get a failure message when double click on my drive.

Answer 1

You can't secure an external harddrive by the use of a shell extension, period.

If you want to keep your data safe, there's only one thing you can do: encrypt it. NTFS has built-in encryption, but I wouldn't recommend using that for an external drive, because of the way the encryption keys are handled.

There's a nice pre-cooked solution for you, though: TrueCrypt. It works, is available for multiple operating systems, has decent speed, and good security. Use it.

Answer 2

1) You should not write a shellextension in .net This causes lots of trouble since then the .net runtime is injected into every application displaying a shell window (like the file open dialog) and if it already uses a different version of the runtime it will likely break.

2) I don't really understand what you are trying to do. But I encrypt my external harddisk with TrueCrypt. That's secure and easy to use.

Answer 3

This is only possible if you change the drive. Otherwise just using on a system without your software would bypass it.

Using NTFS with permissions for the drive's file system would be bypassed by anyone with applicable Window's privileges.

Using an encryption tool may be best: a single public file which contains a complete drive only accessible with the right software and authentication—there are a number around.