-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- My commendations to the authors of the new Secure Device program. However, with due respect to Mike, Secure Device does -not- make SecureDrive obsolete, at least not yet. Certainly there is -no- reason for anyone who has already installed SecureDrive to switch to SecureDevice. You've already partitioned your hard disk, so you won't get the main benefit of SDev. Although SDev has some bells & whistles of it's own, it doesn't have (yet?) the ability to use/set PGPPASS that I added to SecureDrive, or the ability to automatically try the hard disk key on diskettes (but these would be easy to add). There are some other tradeoffs between SecureDrive and Sdev. SDev's device driver architecture makes it more compatible with odd hardware configureations, multiple hard drives, etc., since all encrypted "volumes" are mapped to DOS files. OTOH, this same architecture can waste disk space, especially in cases where SDev encrypted "volumes" occupy most or all of a DOS diskette or HD partition. The "outer" FAT and directory in this case are almost completely wasted. SDev's device driver also takes about 50% more memory than SECTSR. OTOH, Sdev's encrypted volumes are safer from accidental writing if the device driver is not loaded, since they're mapped to read-only DOS files. SDev may be a little more secure then SDrv. SDev's checkword to verify the password is encrypted, while SDrv's is in plaintext. SDev gets this benefit because encrypted "volumes" have their own encrypted boot record. Someone has pointed out that the plaintext checkword could be used to assist a pre-computed dictionary attack on marginally weak passphrases. Another advantage of SDev is that it was developed outside the USA and so is available world-wide without violating ITAR. SDrv has "leaked" overseas to some individuals, but is not, AFIK, being openly distributed there. SDev "volumes" always start out encrypted and empty. You can't take an existing partition or diskette and encrypt it (or decrypt it). This may be less convenient especially if disk space is scarce. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.3a iQCVAgUBLcWpNN4nNf3ah8DHAQH/QwP9H5hTdPFtDBd1hfRDHbz9YpO5CTz/aKo3 /pgbPN3EFKVKGUFPHxnDa1J0J5PWvAezmUiArNdo18Lly0Hu6M3iEGasv06tnbwg vcyzuFPCO5jd02GwTPVldIRol2lTlGcNAVfz209YYP6xSfTKcksWxI6JMSSCCeqK fJ2QS7qcKO4= =7Idd -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- -- edgar@spectrx.sbay.org (Edgar W. Swank) SPECTROX SYSTEMS +1.408.252.1005 Cupertino, Ca