USB Sticks sizes...
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Hi, We have had a smallish problem. Company policy dictates secure drives, fine. Several of our devices use old USB drives (one has a maximum of 256MB!) Due to their function and approvals it is not possible to change/upgrade them. How can you get a 'secure' 128K memory stick today (or ever)... :wtf:
A very long time ago, I tried to make a living as a shareware distributor. We had a particular niche, which was no extra charge for 3.5" floppies and crazy-low shipping. In our catalog, along with other info about what shareware is and such, I had minimum system requirements (DOS 6.1, at the time). Where this is relevant to your situation: I also had a note that if the system's video was poor enough (like CGA), then the cost of not upgrading was really higher than the cost of upgrading as they were losing the ability to use their system and thoroughly enjoy it. Dragging one's feet isn't a bargain, forever.
"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein
"If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010
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Company policy needs to change to better fit reality. (Write it up prettily enough and you may get a bonus.)
We won't sit down. We won't shut up. We won't go quietly away. YouTube, VidMe and My Mu[sic], Films and Windows Programs, etc. and FB
From experience, company policy is written by those still using Dial up. I have got into an argument with one of the bosses because I used a personal Kingston to move test data from the server room to my desk. The test data contains no personal, commercial, or other data, just hardware test results. I explained that was no other way of doing it as the device did not have the ability to be networked...Like fighting a cloud... ;P
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A very long time ago, I tried to make a living as a shareware distributor. We had a particular niche, which was no extra charge for 3.5" floppies and crazy-low shipping. In our catalog, along with other info about what shareware is and such, I had minimum system requirements (DOS 6.1, at the time). Where this is relevant to your situation: I also had a note that if the system's video was poor enough (like CGA), then the cost of not upgrading was really higher than the cost of upgrading as they were losing the ability to use their system and thoroughly enjoy it. Dragging one's feet isn't a bargain, forever.
"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein
"If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010
Ah, but it's not my feet dragging it's the cost and complexity of upgrading these systems for a once in a blue moon use. People seem to want the stuff they paid for to work with no fiddling forever and a day.
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Eddy Vluggen wrote:
cover the plastic in chickenblood holy water and claim the stick purified and secure
No need to hurt those poor chickens. You and I know holy water is just regular water, but people who make up these kinds of rules are stupid enough to believe anything ;)
Best, Sander sanderrossel.com Continuous Integration, Delivery, and Deployment arrgh.js - Bringing LINQ to JavaScript Object-Oriented Programming in C# Succinctly
Sander Rossel wrote:
holy water is just regular water
Actually, a recent study shows holy water to be worse than toilet water.
Asking questions is a skill CodeProject Forum Guidelines Google: C# How to debug code Seriously, go read these articles.
Dave Kreskowiak -
Well, that was what I tried to do. However the one I used was a USB2.0 it didn't like that!
glennPattonWork wrote:
Well, that was what I tried to do. However the one I used was a USB2.0 it didn't like that!
OK. Well I have sitting here on a shelf on my desk a 256MB USB 1.1 Stick with a Lock/Unlock slider that I bought back in 2003. My cousin was the International Purchasing Officer for a supplier at the time and I got the staff price of AUD$256.00. I mean a dollar a meg was awesome for something I could put in my pocket back then.
Michael Martin Australia "I controlled my laughter and simple said "No,I am very busy,so I can't write any code for you". The moment they heard this all the smiling face turned into a sad looking face and one of them farted. So I had to leave the place as soon as possible." - Mr.Prakash One Fine Saturday. 24/04/2004
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Don't know, but it looks interesting... ;)
That was my thought exactly. You could either create a file container matching the size of the USB stick (or slightly less), or format the USB stick itself with VeraCrypt. I still haven't migrated from TrueCrypt (VeraCrypt is pretty much its replacement), but I've used both approaches and they work equally well. The benefit to having a file container (rather than having the entire USB stick encrypted) is that you can create a backup just by copying a single file.
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Sander Rossel wrote:
holy water is just regular water
Actually, a recent study shows holy water to be worse than toilet water.
Asking questions is a skill CodeProject Forum Guidelines Google: C# How to debug code Seriously, go read these articles.
Dave KreskowiakCould this oldie but goodie be the source of this "recent study"? ======== When nuns are admitted to Heaven they go through a special gate and are expected to make one last confession before they become angels. Several nuns are lined up at this gate waiting to be absolved of their last sins before they are made holy. "And so," says St. Peter, "have you ever had any contact with a penis?" "Well," says the first nun in line, "I did once just touch the tip of one with the tip of my finger." "OK," says St. Peter, "dip your finger in the holy water and pass on into heaven." The next nun admits, "Well, yes, I did once get carried away and I, you know, sort of massaged one a bit." "OK," says St. Peter, "rinse your hand in the holy water and pass on into heaven." Suddenly there is some jostling in the line and one of the nuns is trying to cut in front. "Well now, what's going on here?" says St. Peter. "Well, your excellency," says the nun who is trying to improve her position in line, "If I'm going to have to gargle that stuff, I want to do it before Sister Mary Thomas sticks her ass in it."
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Could this oldie but goodie be the source of this "recent study"? ======== When nuns are admitted to Heaven they go through a special gate and are expected to make one last confession before they become angels. Several nuns are lined up at this gate waiting to be absolved of their last sins before they are made holy. "And so," says St. Peter, "have you ever had any contact with a penis?" "Well," says the first nun in line, "I did once just touch the tip of one with the tip of my finger." "OK," says St. Peter, "dip your finger in the holy water and pass on into heaven." The next nun admits, "Well, yes, I did once get carried away and I, you know, sort of massaged one a bit." "OK," says St. Peter, "rinse your hand in the holy water and pass on into heaven." Suddenly there is some jostling in the line and one of the nuns is trying to cut in front. "Well now, what's going on here?" says St. Peter. "Well, your excellency," says the nun who is trying to improve her position in line, "If I'm going to have to gargle that stuff, I want to do it before Sister Mary Thomas sticks her ass in it."
No, but :laugh: :laugh:
Asking questions is a skill CodeProject Forum Guidelines Google: C# How to debug code Seriously, go read these articles.
Dave Kreskowiak -
Possible, but size is the issue...
Physical size, or available drive space size? There are a couple of ways I can think of to reduce the amount of space available. As for physical size, there are several thumb drives available that are no longer than maybe 1/2-inch.
".45 ACP - because shooting twice is just silly" - JSOP, 2010
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You can never have too much ammo - unless you're swimming, or on fire. - JSOP, 2010
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When you pry the gun from my cold dead hands, be careful - the barrel will be very hot. - JSOP, 2013 -
glennPattonWork wrote:
Well, that was what I tried to do. However the one I used was a USB2.0 it didn't like that!
OK. Well I have sitting here on a shelf on my desk a 256MB USB 1.1 Stick with a Lock/Unlock slider that I bought back in 2003. My cousin was the International Purchasing Officer for a supplier at the time and I got the staff price of AUD$256.00. I mean a dollar a meg was awesome for something I could put in my pocket back then.
Michael Martin Australia "I controlled my laughter and simple said "No,I am very busy,so I can't write any code for you". The moment they heard this all the smiling face turned into a sad looking face and one of them farted. So I had to leave the place as soon as possible." - Mr.Prakash One Fine Saturday. 24/04/2004
If I look hard enough I have 128 MB floating around on the desk. It was bigger than a floppy!
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It's not the size of the stick that counts, it is the data on it. :laugh:
“The palest ink is better than the best memory.” - Chinese Proverb
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Hi, We have had a smallish problem. Company policy dictates secure drives, fine. Several of our devices use old USB drives (one has a maximum of 256MB!) Due to their function and approvals it is not possible to change/upgrade them. How can you get a 'secure' 128K memory stick today (or ever)... :wtf:
Will your old devices work with any type of encrypted flash drive? BitLocker, DiskCryptor and VeraCrypt will encrypt flash drives, but unless your devices can run the software, I seriously doubt that will work. There are hardware encrypted USB drives, but to the best of my knowledge that's all newer technology, so that won't work. THAT is your argument to management regarding their policy -- if it isn't technically feasible, it's just not gonna happen. Getting any flash drives that will work? New drives will be tough. Are used drives acceptable? [Especially if there are no other alternatives!] == I have a Kingston DataTraveler 128 MB in my briefcase -- I was going to toss it years ago but since I'm a packrat, I didn't. I'm willing to sell it for $50 USD + shipping. Nope, I'm not making a joke. This is a seller's market for a very rare device, so the price is justified. Canvas everyone you know -- people will have these tucked away. You'll get the drives you need ... although the prices is stiff.
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glennPattonWork wrote:
Well, that was what I tried to do. However the one I used was a USB2.0 it didn't like that!
OK. Well I have sitting here on a shelf on my desk a 256MB USB 1.1 Stick with a Lock/Unlock slider that I bought back in 2003. My cousin was the International Purchasing Officer for a supplier at the time and I got the staff price of AUD$256.00. I mean a dollar a meg was awesome for something I could put in my pocket back then.
Michael Martin Australia "I controlled my laughter and simple said "No,I am very busy,so I can't write any code for you". The moment they heard this all the smiling face turned into a sad looking face and one of them farted. So I had to leave the place as soon as possible." - Mr.Prakash One Fine Saturday. 24/04/2004
I still have a 128 MB USB 1.0 that I bought when my then "new" computer was delivered without a floppy drive. (The nerve!) Since I only add a few kilobytes a week, it still is not full after 11 years! No glitches yet. They don't build them like that anymore! To get the higher densities, they use "compression" techniques that have a greater likelihood of corruption.
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Hi, We have had a smallish problem. Company policy dictates secure drives, fine. Several of our devices use old USB drives (one has a maximum of 256MB!) Due to their function and approvals it is not possible to change/upgrade them. How can you get a 'secure' 128K memory stick today (or ever)... :wtf:
Would something like this[^] USB drive work? Has HW encryption and takes a PIN to unlock it. The data on the drive is probably about as secure as you're going to find on a USB drive. The solution is to get them to relax their requirements as even these are probably pretty specialized devices, but at least they're available today.
I live in Oregon, and I'm an engineer.
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Will your old devices work with any type of encrypted flash drive? BitLocker, DiskCryptor and VeraCrypt will encrypt flash drives, but unless your devices can run the software, I seriously doubt that will work. There are hardware encrypted USB drives, but to the best of my knowledge that's all newer technology, so that won't work. THAT is your argument to management regarding their policy -- if it isn't technically feasible, it's just not gonna happen. Getting any flash drives that will work? New drives will be tough. Are used drives acceptable? [Especially if there are no other alternatives!] == I have a Kingston DataTraveler 128 MB in my briefcase -- I was going to toss it years ago but since I'm a packrat, I didn't. I'm willing to sell it for $50 USD + shipping. Nope, I'm not making a joke. This is a seller's market for a very rare device, so the price is justified. Canvas everyone you know -- people will have these tucked away. You'll get the drives you need ... although the prices is stiff.
The last time this was an issue I was a hero as I managed to 'find' 50 2MB Sticks of uncertain provonence that I 'aquired' when I left a company that didn't pay... The main stupid thing is that this security is due to some dozy half wit leaving their laptop case on a train and it disappeared :mad::mad:
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Would something like this[^] USB drive work? Has HW encryption and takes a PIN to unlock it. The data on the drive is probably about as secure as you're going to find on a USB drive. The solution is to get them to relax their requirements as even these are probably pretty specialized devices, but at least they're available today.
I live in Oregon, and I'm an engineer.
Looks interesting, but sadly too big for this need. The limited size was the issue around 2MB is the largest these :elephant:-ing things will take!
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The last time this was an issue I was a hero as I managed to 'find' 50 2MB Sticks of uncertain provonence that I 'aquired' when I left a company that didn't pay... The main stupid thing is that this security is due to some dozy half wit leaving their laptop case on a train and it disappeared :mad::mad:
glennPattonWork wrote:
some dozy half wit leaving their laptop case on a train and it disappeared
yet more anecdotal evidence in support of Ron White's Conjecture, both in the person who lost their laptop and the management non-thinking reaction. In any case, I'm still more than happy to sell my ancient stick for $50! ;P
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Looks interesting, but sadly too big for this need. The limited size was the issue around 2MB is the largest these :elephant:-ing things will take!
If the size limit is with what the devices themselves can support, and not between the ears of someone, I wonder if you could use a larger USB drive by putting a partition table on them that has only one primary partition that's only 2MB in size, and uses only the front of the device?
I live in Oregon, and I'm an engineer.
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Hi, We have had a smallish problem. Company policy dictates secure drives, fine. Several of our devices use old USB drives (one has a maximum of 256MB!) Due to their function and approvals it is not possible to change/upgrade them. How can you get a 'secure' 128K memory stick today (or ever)... :wtf:
I wonder if you can format a larger USB drive using one of the command line size switches. Trick it into thinking it's a smaller size.
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I wonder if you can format a larger USB drive using one of the command line size switches. Trick it into thinking it's a smaller size.
Well, I am pretty sure that won't work. As the actual FTDI device dictates the speed and size of the device. It is possible to 'trick' the device but it requires some handshaking from the hub to wake up. :sigh:
