External Hard Disk Solutions for Android

[Cantabile]

The only things that are preventing me from completely quitting Windows or a desktop or laptop OS, are Steam games and that I have 2TB of data in external hard drives to access from time to time.

 

I'm ready to quit Steam for the bigger purpose.

 

But is there any solution to working with multiple external hard drives simultaneously on Android?

 

While we're at this, also, how can external hard drives be secured other than physically locking them away? I've explored several encryption software, but any person will be able to connect the external hard drive and format it. even just changing the file or folder name in the drive will cause data to be lost. Such solution will prevent other persons from reading the data but not prevent them from destroying the data.

 

Thanks very much for any help in advance!

[Mira Yurizaki]

You can get a USB to Go adapter. However, phones and tablets won't provide enough juice for any external hard drive. At least to my knowledge they won't.

 

Also no, there's no way you can secure a drive other than physically locking it away.

[Bleedingyamato]

4 minutes ago, M.Yurizaki said:

You can get a USB to Go adapter. However, phones and tablets won't provide enough juice for any external hard drive. At least to my knowledge they won't.

 

Also no, there's no way you can secure a drive other than physically locking it away.

Passwords and/or encryption wouldn't work?

[Snipeon]

18 minutes ago, Bleedingyamato said:

Passwords and/or encryption wouldn't work?

Those don't prevent anyone from destroying the data. Heck, even a strong enough magnet can destroy data without needing to power the drive. So yea, physically locking them away is the only secure option.

[Bleedingyamato]

6 hours ago, Snipeon said:

Those don't prevent anyone from destroying the data. Heck, even a strong enough magnet can destroy data without needing to power the drive. So yea, physically locking them away is the only secure option.

I was thinking in terms of preventing unauthorized data access.  

 

If data was destroyed that's still bad but it's preferable to some jerk getting stuff you don't want them to have.  

[Mira Yurizaki]

3 hours ago, Bleedingyamato said:

I was thinking in terms of preventing unauthorized data access.  

 

If data was destroyed that's still bad but it's preferable to some jerk getting stuff you don't want them to have.  

Encryption could work, but it depends on what your idea of "unauthorized data access" is. Someone could still dump the contents of the hard drive and start hacking away at it if they were desperate enough.

[Bleedingyamato]

2 hours ago, M.Yurizaki said:

Encryption could work, but it depends on what your idea of "unauthorized data access" is. Someone could still dump the contents of the hard drive and start hacking away at it if they were desperate enough.

In this context I mean protecting data on a drive from being accessible if stolen and plugged into the thief's computer.  

 

 

[Mira Yurizaki]

1 minute ago, Bleedingyamato said:

In this context I mean protecting data on a drive from being accessible if stolen and plugged into the thief's computer. 

You can't. Once an attacker has physical access to your hardware, the game is over, period.

[Bleedingyamato]

42 minutes ago, M.Yurizaki said:

You can't. Once an attacker has physical access to your hardware, the game is over, period.

Then what's the point of encrypting files if you're saying someone can plug the drive into a new computer and ignore it?

[Mira Yurizaki]

9 minutes ago, Bleedingyamato said:

Then what's the point of encrypting files if you're saying someone can plug the drive into a new computer and ignore it?

I'm not saying that encryption is pointless if you plug it into another computer. I said that anyone can do a data dump on the encrypted data and if they're desperate enough, find a way to decrypt it. Or in the case of some data, like hashed passwords, figure out the way to turn the data into something usable. Encrypting or hashing just makes it harder to get something usable out of the data. It doesn't necessarily make it safe.

 

There's no way to "absolutely" secure data if the attacker has access to it. So again, if an attacker has physical access to your hardware, the game is over.

[Bleedingyamato]

4 hours ago, M.Yurizaki said:

I'm not saying that encryption is pointless if you plug it into another computer. I said that anyone can do a data dump on the encrypted data and if they're desperate enough, find a way to decrypt it. Or in the case of some data, like hashed passwords, figure out the way to turn the data into something usable. Encrypting or hashing just makes it harder to get something usable out of the data. It doesn't necessarily make it safe.

 

There's no way to "absolutely" secure data if the attacker has access to it. So again, if an attacker has physical access to your hardware, the game is over.

Sorry.  I should've been more specific.  I was focused on someone having the drive but lacking the skills to hack into it.  

 

While yes plenty of people know how to do what you're talking about I feel it's safe to assume many criminals breaking into homes or robbing people in public aren't exactly hardcore techies.  

[Snipeon]

1 hour ago, Bleedingyamato said:

Sorry.  I should've been more specific.  I was focused on someone having the drive but lacking the skills to hack into it.  

 

While yes plenty of people know how to do what you're talking about I feel it's safe to assume many criminals breaking into homes or robbing people in public aren't exactly hardcore techies.  

Please read OP's post carefully. He is more concerned about the destruction than the unauthorized access of data. In his case physically locking the drive away is best for him.