USB stick encryption ?

which free tool is the best for USB stick encryption ?
it's very easy to lose a USB stick in the library or anywhere else. USB cheap, but data is invaluable

 

IF you have a pro edition of Windows, you can use Bitlocker right from the Windows control panel. This is the simplest option if you have the right Windows.

You can also buy drives that come with an encryption ability.

Or here is a 3rd party software I have used and it seemed decent : https://diskcryptor.net/wiki/Main_Page

Hope that helps

 

There's also VeraCrypt, the successor to TrueCrypt, which was widely regarded as one of the best encryption tools out there.

 

I've used it to encrypt a couple of USB sticks just out of academic interest and it seems to fit the bill just fine.

You can include the actual program in the stick using the Traveler Disk feature, so you don't have to have Veracrypt installed on the computers you use it with. That said, the autorun of Veracrypt from the stick never works for me, I think my anti-virus intercepts it or something.

With the Plausable Deniability feature you can make an encrypted container inside a container, if you're a shady enough person to need it.

edit: I've also got one of those cheap encrypted memory sticks from Amazon and it's basically just an ultra-slow run-of-the-mill stick with a generic encryption software on it. So caveat emptor and so on and so forth.

 

And another point is those very same people are the one that lock the USB and then ask help me unlock it. Encryption is only good if the user remember the setups or passwords other then that USB encryption is a non starter. Just tie a rope to it and you and if you try to run off the computer guess what it will come right along with you. One needs to use common sense a long rope or something attached to it and you and you definitely not forget or loose it. But then again people go for gimmicks without thinking what happens if the Encrypted drive fails or doesn't recognize the unlock setup then everything is lost. I go the route of common sense what goes with you must come back. Really simple and if someone want your USB one way or another they will get it. But then again it's my own experience and opinion.

 

1) Backups. Should be ran regardless if OP does an encrypted stick.

2) It's against NBR rules to help break security, so you don't have to worry about it if OP can't access their drive anymore .