Does anyone have experience with EncryptStick?
I have posted to a thread on the 1Password Mac forum about using Secure Notes as a way to keep a backup scan of our passports and credit cards when my wife and I go on vacation to Europe. As that thread evolved I realized from other posts that such scans (attachments) are not included in 1Password Anywhere. This is OK for me, since we usually take a Mac Air along on our vacations. However, this limitation has continued to nag me, since I also take a USB flash drive with 1Password Anywhere on vacations in case our computer is lost or stolen. The last thing I want to do is to take along a paper list or scan print of our passports and credit cards!
I recently learned about EncryptStick (current version 6.0.13), which allows you to install the app on any USB flash drive and then open an AES 128, 256 or 512 bit encrypted vault on any Mac, Windows or Linux computer. This would let me take actual JPEG or PDF backup scans on vacation on a securely encrypted flash drive. I downloaded and installed their free trial software, which is supposed to be a full operating version good for fourteen days.
Short story - I cannot get it to work. I have tried to install it directly onto my flash drive using both a Mac and a PC as the download platform and I have tried to install it first to both a Mac and a PC and then add it to my flash drive, which you are supposed to be able to do. Sometimes I get it to work initially, but ultimately it is not stable as I unplug my flash drive and try to open the software on a PC if I started from a Mac or on a Mac if I started from a PC.
I have found at least one issue that is not mentioned at EncryptStick's Web site - if you put the several files that show up after installation in a separate folder on your flash drive, EncryptStick no longer recognizes that it has been installed on that drive. It won't open your installation and it will ask if you want to do a new (second!) install on the flash drive.
During the course of my install efforts I have sent several email support requests to EncryptStick. They never seem to answer the same day and they don't seem to answer on weekends - this is understandable but frustrating due to the delay when I can't get their software to work. Worse still, I have gotten different advice from different techs - some say to install on my Mac or PC and then use the installed software's menu to add a flash drive, others say to download a specific version of the software for direct installation on a flash drive. I can go with the flow on this varying advice, but so so far neither route has worked for me.
Does Anyone Have Experience with EncryptStick?
If anyone on this forum has had experience with the current version of EncryptStick, using it successfully with a flash drive on both Macs and PCs, I would be very interested to hear how they have gotten it to work.
SanDisk SecureAccess
There is one ray of light in this story. It turns out SanDisk has licensed a "lite" version of EncryptStick (128 bit encryption only) and offers it for free for use on SanDisk USB flash drives. Lexar also offers a similar service. So far, an install of SanDisk's SecureAccess on one of my Cruzer flash drives has been stable across both Mac and PC computers. I have my fingers crossed that it will stay stable!
I'd prefer to use the full version of EncryptStick, which offers higher bit encryption levels and also, I think, a built in "no traces" Web browser, but I just can't get their trial version to work.
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I have no experience with EncryptStick, whatsoever.
However, I do have much experience in life and technical matters, and so your post begs the question: Why pursue a product from a company that won't support you to your satisfaction?
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MrC,
There are two answers to your question - the first is in the last sentence of my post. The second is that I am an amateur at software installation and troubleshooting, and it is just possible that EncryptStick works fine if it is installed correctly. Unfortunately, EncriptStick provides nowhere near the level of excellent documentation and staff support that agilebits provides.
Ultimately, it is quite likely I will stick (no pun intended) with SanDisk's SecureAccess, which can be installed on an unlimited number of SanDisk flash drives. EncryptStick's full version software limits you to three installations per purchased license, so if you install it on a desktop and a portable computer, plus one USB flash drive, you will have to purchase a second license if your single flash drive ever fails or is lost.
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I didn't mean to be glib, or disrespectful. You explained very nicely why you are interested in their product, and my question was not focusing on the initial why, but on the larger picture. In the end, you are the one who has to deal with installation (and perhaps other) issues. And towards that, if a company cannot satisfy your requirements for helping you use the software they sell you, for money, it might be worth considering removing them from your short list of solutions.
Its kinda like going to the BMW dealership asking for help with your Ford because Ford won't respond or provide assistance. :-)
Maybe this product will better meet your needs: http://www.ironkey.com/en-US/encrypted-storage-drives/250-personal.html
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MrC,
IronKey costs $90 or more, compared to free for SecureAccess and $12.99 for EncriptStick. For my very basic needs the functional benefit is about the same.
Also, I don't think this is like going to to a BMW dealership and asking for help with my Ford (actually, I don't drive a Ford, I drive a 135i), since I purposely posted on the Lounge instead of the 1Password for Mac or PC forums in order to seek comments from the general user population, not from the agilebits support team.
So, my question still stands - has anyone out there had (favorable) experience with EncriptStick?
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Sometimes I get it to work initially, but ultimately it is not stable as I unplug my flash drive and try to open the software on a PC if I started from a Mac or on a Mac if I started from a PC.
Are you just ripping the usb key out of the slot or are you "ejecting" it first? If you're not ejecting it then the software might be mid-write when you remove the drive, causing data corruption.
I have found at least one issue that is not mentioned at EncryptStick's Web site - if you put the several files that show up after installation in a separate folder on your flash drive, EncryptStick no longer recognizes that it has been installed on that drive. It won't open your installation and it will ask if you want to do a new (second!) install on the flash drive.
Are you surprised? You're screwing around with its installation and then wondering why it's broken. Try moving the contents of c:\Program Files to a different folder and see how quickly everything stops working.
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RichardPayne,
Thanks. I always right click and then left click on eject for flash drives on both Mac and Windows computers, so I don't think that has been the problem. I must admit, it never occurred to me that moving several related items into a single housekeeping folder on a flash drive might screw up an installed program, like EncryptStick, but then I have also never installed software directly to a flash drive. However, I recognized that problem pretty quickly and the software started working again, without reinstallation, as soon as I moved the items out of the folder.
Independent of my folder misadventure, I still can't get the full version of the software to work when a flash drive is moved to across Macs and PCs. As I noted, the lite version of the software, from both SanDisk and Lexar, works fine on their respective USB flash drives. As it turns out, SanDIsk's version is 128 bit encryption, but Lexar's is 256 bit.
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