Alternative to FreeOTFE

[tippytipper]

Hi, I recently discovered FreeOTFE, I wanted to use this to transport files securely on a USB stick (just in case I lose the USB stick).

 

I have previously tried compressing a folder using WinRAR etc. and using a password, but if I want to access the files I have to decompress a large archive and it takes too long.

 

FreeOTFE can apparently create a secure disk image, this is mounted by the program when you want to view/access the files like a normal drive.

 

I recently tried FreeOTFE but unfortunately it has an issue mounting the portable drivers so it's a no go.

I checked https://alternativeto.net/ but I don't think there was anything that sounded the same.

 

I even considered running PortableVirtualBox and storing the files inside a virtual machine, but unfortunately PortableVirtualBox didn't work and I would also imagine there would be issues using the virtual machine on different computers.

 

So I was wondering if anyone has any ideas, or perhaps knows of similar software? The software needs to be portable, and run on Windows 10.

The security level of the image isn't too important, just the fact that the files are in a password protected disk image that can read/write is what I'm after, or something similar.

[jj9987]

What exactly are you trying to achieve? Does something as simple as GPG not suffice? It can encrypt and decrypt files. I don't get the point of the "secure disk image" or what additional security it brings.

[tippytipper]

3 minutes ago, jj9987 said:

What exactly are you trying to achieve? Does something as simple as GPG not suffice?

Hi, thanks, I had a quick look at GPG and it seems like a good tool but it doesn't seem to be portable or have any options to mount a disk image.

 

I've been messing about with VHD images today, I would think if the average person found a memory stick with a .VHDX file on it they probably wouldn't know what it was, so in that respect it may be good enough, but it would be nice if they were password protected for that added piece of mind.

 

 

 

 

[jj9987]

1 hour ago, tippytipper said:

Hi, thanks, I had a quick look at GPG and it seems like a good tool but it doesn't seem to be portable or have any options to mount a disk image.

 

I've been messing about with VHD images today, I would think if the average person found a memory stick with a .VHDX file on it they probably wouldn't know what it was, so in that respect it may be good enough, but it would be nice if they were password protected for that added piece of mind.

GPG is cross-platform and uses public key cryptography for encrypting and decrypting. You can have whatever extension on the encrypted file, I believe GPG default is .asc. It's as portable as you want it to be - you just need to create keys for every device or share them somehow. GPG keys can be password protected as well.

 

I don't understand why the "disk image" part is important tho. What advantage does it bring? Kinda makes it less portable IMO, if you would need to mount them on different computers.

[tippytipper]

Thanks again, I'll take another look at this.

 

The disk image part is so I can access all the files without needing to wait for decypting or decompressing etc. as my previous solutions (encypted RAR etc) would become time consuming with larger files.