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USB Safefor PC

Lock and Encrypt Files on USB Drives

$17.97

$29.95

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Platforms: Windows Me, 2000, XP, Vista, 7, 8, Server

It's becoming commonplace to keep a small USB drive with you to carry important files around. In fact, some drives are so small, they fit onto your keychain! But the rapid explosion in the use of such drives also brings with it the increased risk of losing your data, either by having the drive fall off of your keychain or out of your pocket. Some drives are so small and inconspicuous, you're likely to forget to take them out of a public computer. And if any of these scenarios occur, what are the chances that your data will come back to you? Not good. At least you can prevent others from snooping around, thanks to today's discount software promotion, USB Safe!

USB Safe lets you lock and encrypt files on a USB drive, guaranteeing security even if you plug the drive into different computers and operating systems. With USB Safe, you can password-protect all sorts of external storage devices, including USB drives, pen drives, memory cards, and more. There's no fussing around with Administrator rights or any such nonsense. There's not even a complex registration process, since you can lock down your critical files in just one click.

As the majority of us make the transition into comfortably working with PCs, Macs, and Linux machines, the only surefire way to safeguard data is to encrypt it at the file level. And that is why USB Safe is exactly the protection we need today!

Review Written by Derek Lee

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Email Updates Load 35 Older Comments

Bjondc I am confused!
Is this for use only on a USB removable drive -- but only *1* per license?

Or is it for use on a desktop &/or laptop to encrypt multiple thumbdrives?

I tried to install the trial version but it only offers to install on portable device.

Jun 2 at 9:36am

DrTeeth How will this help of one leaves a USB stick in a public computer? Does it automatically lock a USB drive after a given period?

Jun 2 at 9:41am

Michael R. Can I remove the stick without taking care of explicitely to encrypt the files, because they are always written to the stick?

Can I define different behaviour for different computers? E.g. on an unknown computer lock the stick after a definable period (see DrTeeth's question), for some defined computers keep it unlocked after entering a keyword at startup, for some other defined computers use the password on these computers, i.e. no entering necessary?

And as asked before: Can I use a single license for usb-sticks/sd-cards ...?
What does that mean: 'allows installation on a single computer and a laptop'? If i am using it on two of my computers (which would be sufficent for my equipment), can't i read/write to the created usb-sticks on another place, like a public's or a friend's computer? And if I am allowed to use these externally, does this change anything on this external computer?

Jun 3 at 12:45am

Chris Wilson Wasted too much time on this today.

For those that may be interested:

- It does not work cross-platform - you cannot get to your files on a Mac or anything but Win. Agreed files can't be seen on Mac but that's all in the way of cross-platform compatibility.

- It's not working for me on Win7 (64) - it installed fine and says it's doing things but just doesn't actually protect files on the drive in any way. Put same stick into a Win8 computer and it did work but I thought it had frozen because it takes an age to archive things up. That was just a few hundred MB, would hate to think how long it would take for my 8 or 16Gb drives full of data.

- Very confusing methodology for the whole process, no adequate manual, just a few "How to's" on the web seem repetitive and don't explain the options and what to actually do and expect. The controlling interface is space restricted with limited view of files on the drive meaning lots of scrolling to see what's what. Unclear distinction between protected files or whole drive. Initial view shows unprotected items underneath with no obvious way of knowing what should happen when items are protected in the above view (especially when not working in Win7)

- Mysterious options specified under the Settings tab with no mention of their function that I can find. (Enable Encryption, Master Key Enable, Hack Attempt Monitoring)

- To get at your protected files you have to start the program on the drive, mount the hidden/protected files/folders as a virtual drive it seems, using up another drive letter (on top of the one for the USB stick itself). The interface show all the drive letters for me to choose from for the virtual drive but doesn't seem to account for drive letters already in use by the system and it seems I could have tried to mount the virtual drive using the same letters as an existing drive! - Also not explained anywhere that I could find!

Equally, when using a secondary letter for the USB drive, it's confusing what to do when trying to eject the drive, i.e. which letter to eject first. Tried ejecting both in Win8 and it complained, then it finally ejected on one of them but has left the virtual drive letter mounted but inaccessible. Was I supposed to go into the interface yet again to unmount?

- The trial is only for 5 uses which was not enough for basic testing. Their website says the trial is 7 days but this is apparently wrong. I had to reformat the drive and reinstall onto the drive in order to continue even basic testing.

- installing and use puts a htmllayout.dll file on the drive and a mystical hidden .printer.msi file on the drive which is full of references to the printers on my system. This seems to be some sort of protection system. I didn't know what it was at first and tried to delete it and ended up screwing things up.

Altogether a very confusing product that is not working for me in Win7 and in general would be a complete pain to use. The licensing of one drive only is also a severe limitation. The sort of people who are likely to use this sort of product are also likely to have many USB sticks/drives and the cost of licenses would be prohibitive even at this discount price. Also, not being able to access data on anything other than Win computers is also a severe limitation for me.

Jun 3 at 3:10am

Raimondas Antanavicius Pretty messed up software, no thanks :)

Jun 3 at 3:57am

Silver0066 The software won't even install on my USB drive. It says it installs, but when I run it, it just keeps installing and never runs.

No thanks. I see that the last update was in the Fall of 2012. Still full of bugs?

Jun 3 at 5:21am

Asif Raza Awesome software, this is what I was require. now my is protected, I like this software

Jun 3 at 8:36am

Bradley Neeson @Silver0066 No. Its not with bugs. You may check your usb drive. Try formatting the USB drive then install the USB Safe. It might be corrupted.

Softwares Orbit - Jun 3 at 8:42am

Bradley Neeson @Bjondc Its for USB Drives only. You can install it in one portable drive at a time. Try to think if we allow multiple licensing system then people can miss use it. By installing it in so many drives after just purchasing one.

Softwares Orbit - Jun 3 at 8:45am

MAK 698 One of my close friends told me about USB Safe while I was searching desperately for software to lock and encrypt my USD drives and memory cards. And I'm glad I looked into it. USB Safe works great for external storage media protection. Simply the best password protection program I have ever used to lock my external drives.

Jun 3 at 9:07am

Bradley Neeson Thanks Mak !

Softwares Orbit - Jun 3 at 9:25am

Stanley Fujimura Is the USB Safe installed on the computer?
I have a USB stick I want to encyrpt and use it at home and on a few work computers. I do not have admin rights on my work computer and I do not want to install any software on work computer (actually, I cannot install software on my work computers). Will USB Safe work as a standalone and would I be able to take encrypted information back and forth from home to work?

Jun 3 at 10:04am

Bradley Neeson Yes You get it right. It will install in the USB Drive and you will be able to encrypt all the data in the USB drive. It work as a standalone device.
Try it.

Softwares Orbit - Jun 3 at 10:12am

Bradley Neeson Yes It will be install in USB Drive. Data protection with USB Safe is PC independent, you do not have to install USB Safe at the other end. Also you can easily take the encrypted information back and forth from home to work.

Softwares Orbit - Jun 3 at 10:16am

Stanley Fujimura "Each license allows installation on a single computer and a laptop, but USB Safe may not be used at exactly the same time on each of them."

If USB Safe is PC independent, what does the above statement mean?

Jun 3 at 10:32am

Bradley Neeson Yes It is pc independent. You have to install in on the portable drives or USB etc.
There is some mistake in the content.

Softwares Orbit - Jun 3 at 10:38am

Stanley Fujimura "USB Safe is licensed per user, so if more people are going to use USB Safe you will need to purchase additional copies."

I have more than 1 USB stick. This sounds like I only need 1 license for all my USB sticks. Is this correct?

Jun 3 at 11:19am

Bjondc From the discussion, it sounds like it can only be used on *one* stick by *one* user. Doesn't seem worth the BdJ price, let alone the "regular" price. Most people have more than one stick, many may want to give or lend a file/stick to an associate, others may have a desktop + laptop setup, etc.

Jun 3 at 11:39am

Bradley Neeson @stanley
No. You have to buy it for every single usb stick. But if you want a discount or some special package. Then just simply email to support@softwaresorbit.com

Softwares Orbit - Jun 3 at 11:56am

Robert Rodenberg It totally sucks. I want my $$$ back!

Jun 3 at 2:02pm

Steven Compton I love USB Safe because it is an uncomplicated piece of work. Unlike similar applications, USB Safe allows me to protect my USB drive in the easiest of possible ways with single-click operation. I just wanted this type of software and I am really very impressed with amazingly quick locking and the lightness of this Software. Go for it. I am sure you will thumbs up my post ;)

Jun 3 at 2:42pm

Chris Wilson Couldn't disagree more with the above comment, how can it be an "uncomplicated piece of work.....protecting in the easiest of possible ways with single-click operation". ? There's uncomplicated or nothing single click about using this other than single clicking all the things you have to do to get it to do anything. I found nothing "thumbs up" about this software at all, see my notes above.

Jun 3 at 11:56pm

Marco Pivetta You wrote: "You have to buy it for every single usb stick."
what a pity!

Jun 4 at 5:13am

Bradley Neeson @chris
@Steve

Thanks alot for help

Softwares Orbit - Jun 4 at 10:37am

Bradley Neeson @ Marco Pivetta

Yeah Its for single USB Stick. Think on it. If we allow it on multiple USB sticks then people will be able to copy it onto many drives weather they are the owner of the usb or not.

Softwares Orbit - Jun 4 at 10:42am

Bradley Neeson @Robert Rodenberg
Can you please tell me what happen ?

Softwares Orbit - Jun 4 at 10:43am

Chris Wilson @bradley - I think you misread my comments.

Also, I've thought on it! The price of the software, even at the special price is more than some USB sticks are worth these days. At the full price I'd expect something like 10 sticks being allowed under some sort of internet activation process. $30 per stick is too much assuming the software and method of use was any good in the first place. i.e. it's not simple to use, isn't one-click and not cross-platform.

Jun 4 at 11:02am

Bjondc @Chris - I agree with you, even at the "special price" it's too much just for one stick. This has, however, prompted me to look into other, more manageable (easier, cheaper, more generous & realistic licensing, whatever) ideas for protecting carry-around data-stores (like sticks & memory cards).

Jun 4 at 12:21pm

Chris Wilson @Bjondc: Yes but what? I'd pay handsomely for the right solution (for unlimited use and for eternal use). Closest I've found for cross-platform is TrueCrypt which incidentally is free but one little issue is it requires admin privileges on another machine if I happen to be visiting someone who doesn't have those rights and maybe even then there are some security issues, same for any solution apparently, see:
http://www.truecrypt.org/...t-portable

Only other way it seems is to buy special USB sticks that have hardware encryption/locking built in but not sure of cross-platform support and expense probably an issue.

Jun 4 at 1:49pm

samson peter Perfect and Simple one click protection from this software. I am very thankful to the support team as well. Who guided me alot. Keep it up USB Safe Team!!!

Jun 4 at 2:30pm

Chris Wilson Can someone tell me how this is one-click protection? For a start, even after it's installed on the drive you have to at least double-click the program icon on the USB drive itself to even start things off. Then enter your password which doesn't accept via the return key so you have to do another click on the okay button, then you have to click your way through your files in the small window if selectively protecting or click on the protect drive, or activate the virtual drive, then click again to close the program. Then keep repeating the whole process, I assume, to change things, unmount or whatever, each time you want to do anything with the drive. How is that one-click protection?

Jun 4 at 2:52pm

Bjondc @Chris -- well, I didn't say I'd *found* a better way, just that I've been made to think about it. Perhaps this discussion will spur on some lurking competitor. After all, there is a need and we've presented plenty of suggestions one way or another. Maybe even a TrueCrypt spinoff or something. Yeah, I'd pay/donate a modest amount for it, I'm not asking for "free". (my need is not that great WRT carrying sensitive data around)

Jun 4 at 3:00pm

Chris Wilson @Bjondc: Same here, no great need or security issue particularly, but if I'm now carrying the odd stick around on my keyring to see the odd client or family member who may have a Mac or Win machine, I do want to know that the data/pictures/files are not viewable by strangers if I should lose my keys or the drive itself. Also, the lack of proper portable security is probably stopping me experimenting with a fully portable set of programs that might include my browsing history, password safe and other sensitive data. I suppose the only way out of this dilemma is a secured hardware drive but the expense is an issue and most people don't have these types of drives when they hand you one with files on that could do with being secured.

Ah, found a link I first found a couple of months ago, see FreeOTFE mentioned at:
http://www.esecurityplane...-Drive.htm - Unfortunately the site didn't load back when I first found it and it still doesn't! It sounds like an answer to the problem but where has it gone?

Jun 4 at 3:24pm

Bjondc @Chris -- I found good write-ups of FreeOTFE too, but the site seems to have gone missing; I've tried it several times in the past few days. Perhaps (I hope) it's a temporary hitch in their arrangements.

Jun 4 at 4:18pm

Chris Wilson @Bjondc - the site was down a couple of months ago as well, mind you Google is showing me a snapshot of the site that it says is from 29 May this year so I guess it's sometimes working. Last version seems to be v3.21 from Feb 2010 and there are apparently problems on 64 bit Win 7 due to unsigned drivers. Also it doesn't seem to be cross-platform so I guess it's TrueCrypt as the only remaining contender for me, for now.

Jun 4 at 4:54pm

Bjondc @Chris -- I guess there isn't currently a solution that suits us. Maybe one'll come along sometime. Something with ease & flexibility for Ordinary People who don't have the needs (or budget) of Big Corp or gov't -- just want to be able to carry around stuff w/ some degree of protection at modest cost.

Jun 4 at 6:37pm

Andrew Tate Automatic dismount of encrypted files - as others have said this is a most important security feature. Especially if you leave the PC thinking you will be back in a few minutes but things crop up as they do and you don't get back for hours.

I currently use Trucrypt and they have a Trucrypt portable that you can install onto usb drives, but you do need admin rights to run on the PC you are using. However, it is free and open source.

Wonder if this software has auto dismount and not needing admin rights. Saw these questions asked before but not found the answers.

Jun 9 at 3:20am

Chris Wilson @Andrew
I don't think USB-Safe auto dismounts, and in fact the whole process of ejecting the specially mounted drive seems to be a pain from what I could tell when I tried it. It doesn't however need admin rights. Not sure what would happen if the computer crashed or there was a power cut.

From my further research, the best solution to usb drive security is to buy one with inbuilt hardware security. These have many advantages over software based solutions which quite frankly don't seem to be up to what we want or need, especially when they cost a lot per drive.

I'm not saying I've found the best make, design or solution, but for USB sticks, the Kingston DataTraveler Vault Privacy drive (http://www.kingston.com/e...urity#dtvp) seems to be a good cross-platform solution. These drives cost £20 for 4GB on Amazon, £25 for 8GB, £45 for 16GB, so not so bad in terms of price especially when you consider that USB-Safe software normally costs $30 on its own (per drive).

The only limitation in buying these hardware secured drives seems to be the lack of choice in designs and the above particular example is the bulky capped sort of drive that wouldn't be great hanging from my keyring.

Let us know if anyone knows of a smaller device that would be good on a keyring. My own favourite (non-hardware secured) at the moment is the DataTraveler SE9 drives, small, strong and won't fall off my keyring (e.g. not cheap plastic/metal/lanyard/clip): http://www.kingston.com/e...ess#dtse9h - I would love to have a decent software solution for all my USB sticks and harddrives but the solution doesn't seem to be out there in terms of a) simplicity, b) cost, c) cross-platform (essential), d) auto-lock/dismount after a certain time of inactivity, e) probably a few other things as well!

Jun 9 at 8:40am

Andrew Tate @chris
I too like the Kingston usb sticks and have one myself. I am a long time user of Trucrypt as I trust it not to have any backdoors it being open source. It is also Windows/Mac/Linux and does have a Portable Disk support in windows at least. Auto dismount is a built in feature. Just trying out the usb automount options but not yet got them to work 100%. Probably due to my Autoplay settings.

Jun 11 at 7:27am

Chris Wilson @Andrew
I haven't used Truecrypt in a while but I know it's very good, with lots of good explanations on their site and good security, hidden partitions, etc. Just need more time to experiment and set things up right, none of which I seem to have these days. I haven't got one of the hardware secured sticks myself yet, so I'm not sure if they do all they say as well as they say, but might give something like that a go soon if I find a decently small one somewhere.

Jun 12 at 2:27am