Thursday, January 7, 2010
Recycle Bin for Your Flash Drive - iBin
In windows , when you accidently delete an item, you have a second chance to recover it from Recycle bin.So it is a safeguard in your PC, but what it happens in a Flash drive?In that case you need a recovery software.But fortunately here is a portable application called iBin with which you can create a portable recycle bin.It run in the background in the system tray detect when you try to delete a file from your flash drive.
From the context menu iBin in the system tray you can open the trash iBin, empty it and restore the last file sent to the trash.Whenever you try to delete an item on your flash drive , a window will pop up asking if you really want to erase it, or if you want to dump it into your iBin.To restore the files sent to the trash, use the Dumping Management.In "Custom Options".
You can change the size used by the trash iBin, enabling the use of shortcut keys, set up automatic cleaning of the trash iBin, cause the iBin start automatically when the device is plugged into the compute etc.By right-clicking the iBin icon in your Windows system tray to undo the last dumping, clean the bin, or open up the Dumping Management window where you can clear or recover selected items.
Sunday, December 27, 2009
HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool - v2.1.8
HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool will format any USB flash drive, with your choice of FAT, FAT32, or NTFS partition types.Additionally, the drive can be made bootable by using system files from Windows 98 startup-disks.
By default on USB flash file system of FAT32, because of what files measuring more than 2 Gb writing down is not possible. By the program HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool it is possible to change the file system of your flash on NTFS.It has a graphical interface very similar to that of the Windows format tool.
Features
- Allows creation of a FAT32 volume larger than 32 GB.
- Fixes installation issue where installation process stopped after the earlier version of software was uninstalled and the new software was not automatically installed. The installation process now restarts automatically to install the new software after uninstalling the older version
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Disable Writing to USB Drives in XP(SP2)
If your system is being used by multiple users, then there is a huge possibility of data being leaked from your system.They can simply plug in a USB device and copy sensitive data.If you are concerned about data security , you can disable writing to USB drives with a simple registry tweak.
To disable the writing of data to USB drives do the following
- Start>Run>type ‘regedit’ in the text box and press enter.
- Browse to the key ‘HKEY_LOCAL_MECHINE/SYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/Control/StorageDevicePolicies’ registry key.
- Right click anywhere on the right pane and select the ‘DWORD(32bit)Value’ option.
- Double click the newly created key and type ‘00000001’ in the ‘Value data’ field.
- Restart your system for changes to take effect
USB Locker is a small tool,which disable (when needed) writing to external USB flash drives to prevent unauthorized copying of your files from your computer
Download | Windows XP/Vista/7|Freeware
USB Data Recovery
Since USB flash drives have a space constrain, data deletion and replacement is unavoidable. But, what if you accidentally delete crucial data on it?It is possible to recover data from all types of media such as hard drives, flash drives, and optical media etc. Of course, recovery also depends on how critical the damage is. If it’s simply a ‘shift-delete’ scenario,then there can be 100 percent recovery.But again, this is only possible if the data hasn’t been overwritten.
Here are some freewares & paid softwares which are effective in data recovery.
Undelete Plus
Undelete Plus is a quick and effective way to retrieve accidentally deleted files, files removed from the Recycle Bin, in a DOS window, from a network drive, from Windows Explorer with the SHIFT key held down. Undelete Plus works under Win 95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP/2003 operating systems. It supports all Windows file systems for hard and floppy drives including FAT12/16/32,NTFS/NTFS5 and image recovery from CompactFlash, SmartMedia, MultiMedia and Secure Digital cards. The application’s interface is quite efficient and user-friendly.
When you run, it scans your system for files that have been deleted, lists them all by file type, or by folder location, or by drive location. For each file, it gives the file name and path, size, date it was created and last modified, and the chances that you can recover it.
DiskInternals Uneraser
DiskInternals Uneraser can recover any deleted file, including documents, photos, mp3 and zip files, or even folders and damaged disks. In addition to HDD, the program supports any type of storage media (music sticks, cameras, flash drives, USB drives, etc) It works with encrypted files and helps you undelete file lost because of a virus attack.
Features
Storage Media Supported
Data Doctor Recovery
Here’s another series of recovery tools that’ll help you retrieve data even from formatted flash media and drives. Sim card data recovery software , Digital camera data recovery software , Pen drive data recovery software ,Memory card data recovery software Memory stick data recovery software ,iPod data recovery software etc are some of them.However, here the case is same as DiskInternals—you can only preview the recoverable data unless you pay for the software
- Pen Drive Data Recovery Software is a prominent tool to retrieve all your lost data from corrupted or logically damaged memory sticks data storage media. Restores and retrieves lost, missing, deleted music files, pictures, videos, digital photos, images and text files from inaccessible USB Pen drive removable medias.
- Efficiently retrieves data saved in all major file formats including video files (avi, mp4, mpeg, m4v, asf), audio files (wav, ram, aac, wma, mpa), image files (jpg, tiff, gif, bmp, png), text files (doc, txt, dbt, wpd, wps) etc.
- Support all major pendrive brands like Kingston, Sony, Sandisk, IBM, iBall, Super Flash, Super Talent, Lexar, Memorex, PQI, Simpletech, Imation, Verbatim and many more.
- Restore corrupted files and folders damaged due to Human error, Virus corrupted files, Power failure, Accidently formatted pen drives, Logical fault etc.
- Recovers Data even if “drive not formatted” and other system generated error messages are displayed on system monitor while working with pen drives.
Download(Trail)
Handy recovery
Handy recovery is another file recovery utility that comes with a simple wizard to help users restore deleted files. It supports the FAT 12/16/32, NTFS/NTFS 5 + EFS, HFS/HFS+ file systems. It even allows users to create an image of a partition for deferred
recovery as well as set filters for better search results.
The program supports data recovery from memory cards manufactured by SanDisk, Kingston, Transcend, Verbatim, Sony, Integral, Panasonic, Toshiba, Olympus, just to name a few, including but not limited to CompactFlash, Memory Stick Duo, Memory Stick Pro, Memory Stick Pro Duo, SD Card, mini-SD, micro-SD, MultiMediaCard MMC, SmartMedia, xD Picture Card.
Download Now(Trail)
Restoration
Here, all you have to do is, select the drive for data recovery and click on ‘Search deleted files’. Once the files are listed,click on ‘Restore by Copying’. A formatted flash drive will not be a good candidate for recovering data using this application.
The advantage of using Restoration is that it is very simple to use and is pretty light on your system. It supports the FAT and NTFS file systems. Data can also be recovered from SD cards and flash drives.
A disadvantage of the application is that it does not allow the user to set filters or search criteria. Also you cannot scan two or more drives at a time and the search results are not segregated according to the file types
Download (Freeware)
DiskDigger
DiskDigger can recover files from any type of media that your computer can read. This includes USB flash drives, memory cards (SD, CompactFlash, Memory Stick, etc), and of course your hard drive. The types of files that it recovers include photos, videos, music, documents, and many other formats
It supports all major branded USB drives like Transcend, Sony, Kingmax, Kingston, Jet flash, Super Media, Super Flash, Apacer, AVB etc. Even the files/folders with long names can be recovered easily
Download (Freeware)
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Windows was Unable to Complete the Format –USB Drive
When you tried to format your USB drive, you may get an error “Windows was unable to complete the format .”
To format your USB drive try the following methods
Method 1
- Open cmd.
- Start>Run>cmd and format your USB drive. or win-key+R.
for ex: If your USB drive letter is J
C:\>format J:/q Press Enter Key
Method 2
- Insert one of the drives
- click start > control panel > Administrative tools(you need to be in classic mode) > Computer Management
- Or Click Start > Run and type diskmgmt.msc in the Open: line and click OK.
- Under the Storage section, choose Disk Management
You should see your USB drive listed here. It may not have a drive letter assigned. - Right click your USB drive and select Format
The Disk Management snap-in will open.
Method 3
USB Disk Storage Format Tool lets you format any USB stick with the desired file system.USB Disk Storage Format Tool views the USB stick like a normal disk drive and then formats the USB stick with the desired file system (FAT, FAT32, NTFS). With NTFS you can also squeeze out more storage, if you turn on the available data compression.
Method 4
HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool will format any USB flash drive, with your choice of FAT, FAT32, or NTFS partition types.
Features
All drives connected through the USB port of the computer is recognized and can be formatted using this software.This Tool works with a wide variety of USB devices including many not manufactured by HP making it more or less an universal software tool to format an USB device.With this tool you can also create a bootable USB Disk
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Install Windows From USB With WinToFlash
What if you could return the machine to a bootable state just by inserting a USB flash drive though?It is helpful when the DVD drives are not available with you.WinToFlash is a free ,handy and portable software which simplifies creating a bootable USB flash drive for Windows operating system.This will help you to transfer your Windows XP, Windows 2003, Windows Vista, Windows 2008, Windows 7 setup from CD or DVD to flash in some mouse clicks.
WinToFlash can transfer your live CD/DVD to flash card, for example, BartPE. After all you can erase your Flash card and format it with you Windows for every day use,which are useful for troubleshooting and repairs.
Saturday, August 1, 2009
Safely Remove Hardware Icon is Not Displayed
Sometimes when you insert your Flash drive , the notification button on your taskbar may not displayed.This makes it impossible for you to unplug your device safely.As everyone knows it is not a good practice to unplug a USB device from the computer
This is a common problem among most flash drive users. However, there are many solutions to this problem. The taskbar can be set to hide inactive icons. Check to see if 
If the icon isn’t to be found, even after clicking on the arrow then you can invoke the dialog box by clicking on “Start | Run”. Enter the following line of text “RUNDLL32 SHELL32.DLL,Control_RunDLL hotplug.dll” and hit the [Enter] key. The dialog box will open on your screen.
Though this will serve your purpose, it isn’t a permanent solution. It is better to have the icon pop up every time rather than type in this line of text in the command prompt each time. Here’s how to enforce its presence:
- Click “Start | Control Panel”.
- Double-click on “Taskbar and Start Menu Properties”.
- Click “Customize”.
- Select “Always Show” from the drop down list that corresponds to “Safely Remove Hardware”.
- Click “OK”.
The “Safely Remove Hardware” icon will now be displayed permanently on the taskbar. The problem of the missing icon is often solved by a simple reboot of the computer.
However, it is best to follow these steps rather than unplug your device directly and risk data loss and corruption of the device altogether.
You can also try the following method to solve this issue:-
1) With a USB drive inserted ,Open Control Panel>System Properties>Device Manager>Disk Drives
2) Click on your hardware in the list and select "Properties" again.
3) Click on "Policies". Normally the "Optimize for quick removal" button will be active - but don't change this. Instead click on the "Safely Remove Hardware" link in "Optimize for performance"
4) Again select your hardware and click "Stop". Click "OK". This will stop your hardware and it can now be safely removed. This is a work around for the missing icon but you should not need to do it more than once - the "Safely Remove Hardware" icon should now appear normally in the Notification Area whenever ANY removable device is reinserted - hopefully for good.
5) Make sure that the icon is not hidden in "Customize Notifications" as described above. This has worked for a USB flash drive (thumb drive) in XP but might work for other removable hardware as well.
USB Disk Ejector
A program that allows you to quickly remove USB devices in Windows. It was originally designed to remove only USB pen drives but will now eject any USB device. It can be run as a non-visual command line program or a normal gui program. Its very useful if you have a USB flash/pen drive, especially if you use a menu such as PStart or the Portable Apps launcher.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Make a Vault for Your Files With Cryptainer LE
Your computer may infected by viruses in many ways: opening suspicious e-mail,visiting doubtful websites and so on. What if you could create a folder that’s shielded from the rest of your computer? Cryptainer LE allows you to do just that.
It's powerful 128 bit encryption, creates multiple 25 MB encrypted containers (vaults) on your hard disk. These encrypted vaults can be loaded and unloaded when needed. You can view, modify and hide all types of files with a single password.It can be installed 
Features
- Creates an encrypted container (vault)
- Encrypt any type of data, even folders
- 128 bit Strong Encryption
- Easy to use, Impossible to break
- Send secure e-mails too
- Encrypt data on any Media (USB, CD etc)
- Never expires, No nag screens
- Works on all 32 bit versions of Windows
- All you need to know is to drag and drop!
SysReq:Windows 95/98/ME/2000/XP/2003 Server/Vista |3.06MB |Freeware| 
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Guard Your USB drives With Naevius USB Antivirus
USB drives are so popular and generally get used to move data between multiple systems frequently. Even though USB drives are very useful , they are potential breeding ground for viruses.When you stick your flash drive the host computer will look for commands in Autorun.inf to be executed automatically.Normally those commands in Autorun.inf are harmless, but if the file was modified, it may call for execution of a Trojan or whatever program in your USB flash drive automatically .
Naevius USB Antivirus is a free tool which protects your pen drive from autorun viruses.In the root folder of your pen drive, it create a write-protected dummy "autorun.inf", which is also undeletable.It gives you full freedom for securely using your removable usb drives.
Features
- Protection against any Trojans, spyware, worms via USB storage.
- Compatible with any antivirus resident like for example: BitDefender, Nod32, Kaspersky, AVG, Norton, McAfee, Panda, AVAST etc.
- Protection in real time with.
- 100% protection from outside with write-protected dummy "autorun.inf" file.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Stop Trojan Infections
A simple way to disable any virus,worm or trojan from entering your USB drive, is to create a folder by the name of ‘autorun.inf’.Once this is done, right click on the folder ,navigate to properties ,hide the folder as well as write protect it.This works as well with a text file of the same.This ensures that even if a virus,trojan or worm does get into the USB drive.It does not being to operate as soon as the drive is connected to my computer.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Protect Your USB Drive With AutoRunExterminator
Ever wonder why your Anti Virus detects a virus in your autorun.inf whenever you insert your removable disk (USB, flash drive, et.) but it can’t disinfect it nor delete it or if you’re having a hard time accessing drives? Tried deleting it manually but you can’t find the file?
AutoRunExterminator is a small free utility , which monitors all logical drives and prevent autorun.inf file from being executing itself.If it finds a file with this name in the root of any drive, will exclude it.The software will not block the autorun of CD/DVD as it is not writable.The utility appears in Windows system tray and continually monitors your system.
SysReq:
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Panda USB and AutoRun Vaccine for Disabling AutoRun of USB Drives
When a disc is inserted or a drive is connected to your system, Windows looks in the root directory of the new disc or drive for a file named autorun.inf. If found, Windows executes the instructions in that file.For example, an autorun.inf file on a CD might contain a line that reads open=setup.exe. This tells your computer to launch a setup program as soon as the CD is inserted into the drive.
However convenient this might be, unfortunately, AutoRun also opens a huge door for viruses, Trojan horses, and worms. All it takes is a USB flash drive with an autorun.inf file and an executable in its root. Once inserted, a worm launched in this manner can infect every disk partition it finds, jumping from computer to computer as network users connect to an infected drive.The most recent examples of this are the W32/Sality, W32/Virutas and also the W32/Conficker worm which, in addition to spreading via a vulnerability and network shares, also spreads via USB drives.
The free Panda USB Vaccine allows users to vaccinate their PCs in order to disable AutoRun completely so that no program from any USB/CD/DVD drive (regardless of whether they have been previously vaccinated or not) can auto-execute. This is a really helpful feature as there is no user friendly and easy way of completely disabling AutoRun on a Windows PC.
The free Panda USB Vaccine can be used on individual USB drives to disable its AUTORUN.INF file in order to prevent malware infections from spreading automatically. When applied on a USB drive, the vaccine permanently blocks an innocuous AUTORUN.INF file, preventing it from being read, created, deleted or modified. Once applied it effectively disables Windows from automatically executing any malicious file that might be stored in that particular USB drive. The drive can otherwise be used normally and files (even malware) copied to/from it, but they will be prevented from opening automatically. Panda USB Vaccine currently only works on FAT & FAT32 USB drives. Also keep in mind that USB drives that have been vaccinated cannot be reversed.
SysReq:Windows 2003, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows XP, Windows 7|Freeware|379KB|Download |MirrorLink
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Prevent Unauthorized use of USB Ports with NetWrix USB Blocker
If proper steps are not taken to secure your computing environment, a USB flash drive would be an ideal means of collecting valuable information and literally pocketing it. So what steps can be taken to secure your environment against these potentially sinister little devices?
The freeware NetWrix USB Blocker enforces centralized access control to prevent
Unlike other solutions, it requires no deployment of agents on client computers. Another advantage of the tool is simplicity, only a couple of mouse clicks to get the work done. And the most exciting: the software is completely free of charge.
Benefits:
1) Prevents unauthorized use of removable devices.
2) Hardens endpoint security.
3) Enables regulatory compliance, such as SOX, GLBA and HIPAA.
4) Freeware! Saves your IT buck for other important projects.
Features:
1) Seamlessly integrates with Active Directory.
2) Requires no client deployment (no agents).
3) Fully centralized management.
4) Very simple to use, no monster tools and long learning curves
![download_thumb[1]](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9iBQtW0O-5UCMYsWYSHPIg4-Hgbra1l6xIt3M5e1jYvNUvbST10yOxrVqOp_2zHOKbNMBDzlBRtLqt2_yca5gOnmZgOxPCh-hHIaszfilSkwAfXKPL2_zv-dAhkcBXYlHQ68xRb8d0fzx/s1600-h/download_thumb%5B1%5D%5B3%5D.gif "download_thumb[1]"){kind=small}
Update (30-10-2009) : Download NetWrix USB Blocker Version 3.5
Also Read
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
USB Device not Recognized by Vista
When USB Drive plugged into your computer causes the sound alert to go off but does not get recognized by Microsoft Vista.However, if you reboot your machine the device gets recognized.But it is painstaking to reboot your machine every time.This may due to corrupted system files .
Click the “Start” menu and type “Device Manager” in the search field to open up the Device
Manager. Navigate to the portion of the dialog box that has all your USB controllers enlisted. Right-click on all of them and delete them. Reboot Windows Vista. When Vista reboots it will detect the missing USB controllers and will add the devices automatically. This will take care of the problem if file corruption is the cause. Another means of troubleshooting a problem of this nature is to enable Write Caching.
