Tech help? On the fly data encryption...

[ShitOnWheels]

I just purchased an 8GB Kingston Data Traveler. It comes with nothing installed. Because it will hold confidential information related to my job, I need to install on the fly encryption software. I need to be able to use it on both Windows and Mac computers (work is all Mac). I looked at TrueCrypt, but I'm confused on whether I install it as a partition or a file container or in traveler mode or what, and whether or not I can go between OSs without needing to install on other systems.

Can anyone explain some of this to me? Should I install it as a file container on the drive, or as a complete system, or keep it in traveler mode? Or suggest a different program that's more intuitive?

Thanks.

[firehawk1120]

stop lying you just trying to hide porn from the kiddies... LOL

[Knipps]

True Crypt has good reviews as does this one
http://www.download.com/Keynesis-Lockngo/3000-2092_4-10361097.html

[ShitOnWheels]

Thanks. I figured out truecrypt. I just was confused with all the options. And I consider myself a techie in a sense (I'm usually the one everyone asks for comp help, I can build my own systems, I know my way around Windows machines and I'm learning Mac, etc), but all the jargon confused me. But I did figure it all out, and TrueCrypt seems to be a great (free) option for my needs.

[jims69camaro]

after you posted, i went and got an education on this stuff. it's getting fairly complicated, as it used to just be your personal information on a stick and maybe your desktop/favorites. now that the memory has been bumped up (i remember 128MB was huge) the options for storing data are many. now you can store programs, huge data files and your personal stuff all on one stick. natch, they had to come up with a way to protect that stuff, should it get into the wrong hands (or any hands, come to think of it). since truecrypt is free, it's definitely the way to go. floppy discs? obsolete.

and, of course, if you're a developer, you can access the source code to change it to suit your needs, which is about the best feature, IMHO. this open source stuff was unheard of back in the day. if someone wrote code, it was theirs and if you wanted it you either wrote your own or bought their end product with no way to change it (outside of decompiling and reverse engineering). then C came along with its public library of functions and things started changing in the programming world. no sense in re-inventing the wheel was what i always heard back then. if someone has written a function that could be widely used, it was included in the library.

and of course, that has evolved into what we have today. huge step, IMHO.