How to password protect external hard disk drives

Hi All,
I have purchased and external USB port hard disk. The problem with it is anyone just plug it to thier computers USB port and use it as we use our windows explorer to browse the filesystem. However whenever I plug to my computers USB port it should prompt me for a password and once authenticated it should allow me to browse the filesystem of my external hard disk. How can I achieve this using java ?
Thanks & Regards,
Kumar.

If you really want this to work properly, you will have to write a DLL for Windows that will intercept the appropriate filesystem call and prompt you for a password. Otherwise, another option would be:
Create a standalone Java application that will read/write from the hard drive
Use Java Cryptography extension for all read/writes to the hard drive (encrypt onto hard drive, decrypt into memory or internal hard drive)
Have your sign-on required to use the Java application (and hence, decrypt the contents of the drive)
Use passphrase-based symmetric encryption so that the password can be the actual key for the encryption/decryption (or if you want, have that key unlock a larger symmetric key also encrypted on the drive)- Saish
"My karma ran over your dogma." - Anon

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Message was edited by: NeanderCuz

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I use an external 2TB hard drive to store data on and i had set this drive up on the 2009 imac formatted with a password which is saved on my keychain.
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