Virtual Disk

[rospa]

I'm shorting going to be getting a company laptop and I've decided to ditch my own system.

I need, therefore, a solution whereby I can save my own personal files on this laptop and run my own applications on it, in private.

I am thinknig about sort of virtual disk that is encrypted and I can access whenever I am connected to the net. If there was a way I could also work offline and synchronisation would be possible that would be the icing on the cake.

All ideas welcome.

Thanks

[Plotloss]

What operating system?

If Win2K or XP Pro surely you could create a user that has access to directories that normal users dont have access to.

The downside here is that Administrator will be able to see everything...

[ehasler]

Can't you set the permissions so that only user xxxx can access the directory, and exclude Administrators?

Been a while since I've played with NT file permissions, so I might be talking out my arse!

[ehasler]

What about an external Firewire or USB2 hard disk, or even a microdrive that fits in a PCMCIA socket?

[malman]

Yes but an Admin can grab ownership and then look. He just can't make them yours again to cover his/her tracks. (in theory)

Neil

[liszt]

Playing devils advocate here, are you allowed to do this? Most companies, especially the ones registered with FAST, do not allow employees to load their own programs on to company laptops. Indeed, in our company it is a dismissable offence.

Need to check this first. Most sysadmins will have an audit program to search for all executables on a machine

[rorschach]

liszt said:

Indeed, in our company it is a dismissable offence.

Does that include GPL/Freeware et al ?

In answer to the original question, I would just buy
my own hard disk and swap them in and out of the laptop
as needed.

Oh, and as regards the permisions, the admin can set
them to anything so they can look at your files without
trace. They could also log in as you and have the
permissions to look then anyway. :BOFH:

[Edited to add above comment]

>> Edited by rorschach on Friday 19th September 13:07

[pdV6]

rorschach said:

I would just buy my own hard disk and swap them in and out of the laptop as needed.

Hmmm. Hardly the most convenient solution, I would have thought...

[rorschach]

True, but if you need the privacy and segregation that is being asked for, then it a solution. Either that or run VMWare www.vmware.com/ and store the VMWare disk image in a PGP disk partition...
:chineseparliament:

[Barrrrrrnacle]

Don't forget that if you use the company laptop for writing documents for your personal use you'll have to be very careful at cleaning up after yourself!
Word leaves all kinds of incriminating temp files all over the place, and it even stores lots of stuff you'd rather it didn't in the document itself. Best solution is another disc with another operating system, or least hassle of all, but an old laptop of your own, keep everything completely separate.

[-bacchus-]

rorschach said:

True, but if you need the privacy and segregation that is being asked for, then it a solution. Either that or run VMWare www.vmware.com/ and store the VMWare disk image in a PGP disk partition... :chineseparliament:

Problem with this is the resources required.
You need to assign memory to the virtual machine, which is ten no longer available for the host.

[liszt]

rorschach said:

liszt said: Indeed, in our company it is a dismissable offence. Does that include GPL/Freeware et al ?

If it not deemed for business use and not agreed to by the IT management then yes GPL/Freeware is also not allowed.

[rorschach]

Agreed, but 512 megs would be enough for 2 windows systems (I have 256 and that's fine for what I need)

There's not really any other way to do what is required by the request :shrug:

[rorschach]

liszt said:

If it not deemed for business use and not agreed to by the IT management then yes GPL/Freeware is also not allowed.

Fair enough - guess my several hundred Mb of viruses, trojans and exploit code would be a no-no then ?


That's OK, it is all a job requirement

>> Edited by rorschach on Friday 19th September 13:43

[M@H]

I have a Sony VAIO and have a 128mb memory stick in it for my private stuff... if you do this, just remember to keep the stick in your pocket when you leave your laptop in the office..

Cheers,
Matt.

[-bacchus-]

Alternative to the memory stick, you can by USB memory keys.

These can be clipped onto a keyring, and then just plug into the usb socket.