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password protect usb flash drive

I have a usb flash drive that is connected to an xp pro pc and I am running an xcopy batch file to copy my documents to this flash drive.  Is there a simple way to password protect the drive or the folder inside or maybe encrypt the data somehow so no one can see the files but will not interrupt the xopy process?  
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Houssam Ballout
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well, if you are able to password protect some files, then you will not be able to copy contents from that folder.
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So is there any other software our there that would allow a password to come up when I doubleclick the usb drive but still allow the xcopy to run?  What if I hid the files on the usb drive.  Would they stay hid the next time the backup ran?
With XP Pro, you can encrypt a folder (or drive) and xcopy will be able to write to it, as long as xcopy is running with your credentials. However, encryption requires that the drive be formatted with NTFS. Most flash drives are formatted with FAT, so you'll probably need to reformat it. Use Disk Management (Start | Run | diskmgmt.msc) to view and reformat the partition. (Copy any data you want off he flash drive first because the reformat will erase everything>)
- Eric
Kingston sell a memory stick with built in encryption (256-bit).

I have a 4GB Kingston datatraveler vault privacy.

It has a seperate partition which appears as a CD with the unlock app on it - which autoruns on windows and also runs on a mac.
equack:  How do you encrypt the folder after I have formatted it with NTFS?
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equack
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