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>>These Datalockers aren't as small as flash drives, but they seem much more secure. Has anyone tried them? If so, how would you rate them for portabiity, ease of use, and security? Or is there a really good password-protected flash drive out there? Or do you think I'm worrying unnecessarily, since the odds ar low that a flash drive full of case files that has been lost by a human rights advocate, child protective service worker, or legal aid attorney will actually be found by someone who knows how to use the data for maximum harmful effect? Thanks in advance for your suggestions.>>
I have not tried the DataLocker products and probably will not because I wouldn't want to trust any device with built-in, proprietary encryption.
Instead, I would recommend anyone looking to secure ANY volume of data look into True Crypt (http://www.truecrypt.org). This is a software-only, open source solution for encrypting entire volumes of data. You can even configure your setup to look like there is no data stored on the device at all until you run True Crypt and provide the correct pass phrase to unlock the volume.
I use this program to protect all the sensitive data on my notebook and it works wonderfully well. All I need to do is provide the pass phrase once per boot-up (just like logging in).
There are other commercial products that perform similar functions but I consider True Crypt the gold standard for this capability.
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