Posted: Wed May 07, 2008 12:42 am Post subject: HOWTO: Make a hidden storage disk!
Does your parents/roommates/friends/landlords/whatever like to spy on your files?
Do you want to keep "private" data "private?"
Well, this is for you!
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HOWTO: Make a hidden storage disk!
Okay, so I have some friends who really like to take a look at my files. Sure, I can hide them. But what if my parents will look at my PC? Oh, no. Not that I have "mature" content on my PC, but I have written all the crap that gets in my mind there.
So I decided to build this today. To keep my data safe.
Time taken (for me): 1 hour
Estimated Difficulty: Medium to Hard
Note: I am going to post these instructions on BenHeck and for my friends in the Philippines and hopefully Engadget will feature it. So we can have people looking around here and to help them too.
LEGAL DISCLAIMER: THIS HOWTO IS FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES OF FUN ONLY. I AM, IN NO WAY, GOING TO BE RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGE THAT YOUR MISTAKES MAY CAUSE. I ALSO AM NOT RESPONSIBLE IF YOU BLOW UP YOUR COMPUTER, YOURSELF, YOUR DOG, YOUR HOUSE, OR EVEN BLOW THE CRAP OUT OF YOUR TOILET.
Sorry about the disclaimer, because I know there are people who like to sue others for their mistakes.
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I had this unused phone line output near my laptop. I heard that the previous resident of the house used it for his dial up connection. Sorry, but 28.8 kilobit dial up for me is over. I'm rocking the 1024 Kilobit HiSpeed Cable. I was not using it, so I decided it will make a perfect hiding place.
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Here's the stuff I will use. The small circuit board up there is a PNY 4GB USB Drive. I cracked the plastic case off. It will be the "storage" device. Right next to it is a scissors. Left of the USB drive is an IDE Ribbon Cable. This "ribbon" of wires is pulled from a dead computer. It's not really that critical, but I used it for convenience. At the bottom is a 30 Watt Soldering Iron. These things get hot enough to MELT metal, so be safe when handling this. It will be used to melt metal. The liquid metal will then flow to the bare connections, securing them. This is called soldering.
Oh, I forgot to photograph the Duct Tape, USB Wire, Telephone wire and Screwdriver.
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I used scissors to cut four strands of wiring from the ribbon cable.
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I taped stuff down so they don't move around. Here, I am heating the soldering iron to prepare to solder the connections to the USB drive. A USB port has 4 separate connections. That's why I needed four strands of ribbon cable.
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Sorry, I cannot photograph the soldering because I had my hands full. And no, I can't let anyone photograph for me or the secret will be out!
Here is the USB drive with four wires on it. The four wires "connect" to the four connections of the USB port. I used the iron to melt the metal and stick one of the wire strands on it. The metal cools, and it will "lock" the wire.
Be sure none of the four connections are touching each other, or you will kill your PC!
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Testing if the drive still works.
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Testing if it works with the USB cable. (more on it later.)
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Okay, since the "core" of the project is done, now it's time to take a screwdriver to the plug and unscrew it. The screws are fairly long, so don't lose them.
AND FOR CRIKE'S SAKE, PLEASE DO NOT TRY TO UNSCREW THAT POWER PLUG! YOU'LL GET A NASTY JOLT IF YOU DO SO!
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Open Sesame! Don't worry. The wires will not shock you.
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Plug removed.
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I taped the exposed copper and stuffed the wires back into the recess.
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Cover the hole with a box, just in case someone goes in.
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A closer look at the back of the plug. Notice the different color coding of wires.
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Using the Reference for Pinouts, (See at the top of the page.) I put:
PIN 1 to RED PIN 2 to ORANGE PIN 3 to GREEN PIN 4 to BLACK
I triple checked my connections.
If you have different colors, then sorry, I cannot help.
Also, if you only have TWO wires instead of FOUR, bad luck.
Once I did that, I set it to some place safe.
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Take a phone line wire and clip it. It must have FOUR pins.
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Now to make the connector cable. I took a USB cable and clipped it to size. Then I took the phone wire. I exposed the wiring on both connectors. You should see these wires.
USB CABLE: RED WHITE GREEN BLACK
PHONE WIRE: RED ORANGE GREEN BLACK
NOTE: Leave the phone wire longer. The reason is that the phone wire is brittle and can easily break. It is infuriating to work with.
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Heating up the iron. This takes a while.
The metallic cylindrical shaped spool of wire is called soldering lead. I had this for three years and I haven't used it all up yet. Eventually, I will but...
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The metal wire melts to coat the wires to bond them together.
Bond the:
RED wire to the RED wire.
WHITE wire to the ORANGE wire.
GREEN wire to the GREEN wire
BLACK wire to the BLACK wire
Triple check the connections for safety.
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Take some tape and insulate the wires individually. Make sure no wire is touching another!
The patch cable is DONE!
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Now to test if it works. Plug the Phone Line in first, then the USB Cable to the computer.
Gasp! The amber light is ON!
It's working!
I can see my files!
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Now to screw it back on.
Screw it.
Looks like any other phone line, no?
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It's WORKING!
I see my files.
DARK SPYRO!!!
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FINAL THOUGHTS:
It works very well. Just take the patch cable away, and we are fine and dandy. It looks like any other phone jack, but it IS a secret data device!
Heh... Now, what to put in it? Hmm... I don't know.
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UP NEXT:
Playing Insomniac Spyros on PSP
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UPDATE: May 9, 2008
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Age: 16 Joined: 08 Mar 2008 Posts: 4598 Location: ~Lurking within the Shadows~ 125527 Gems
Posted: Wed May 07, 2008 2:45 am Post subject:
Uhm....no....but i praise you Doppel! you are probably 2nd smartest here! (SR is first, he might get mad....lol) _________________ Ayumi-Dragon/Wolf-Feral Imp, Silver Fang Hardstyle
~This is me, Silver Fang, i am most majestic to the eyes, but am very savage during battles~
Age: 13 Joined: 21 Dec 2007 Posts: 5778 Location: Where life has been made into joyous darkness. 146020 Gems
Posted: Wed May 07, 2008 6:03 am Post subject:
DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH TROUBLE I"D GET INTO?!..not to mention I'm ALREADY in trouble for trying to tinker with my PS3's harddrive and trying to get high speed dial up!but hey..great tutorial..no.1 smartest..I'm not scared either!And I must say..you MUST of used to work in construction at some point(for a little summer job)I am going away this whole summmer to make some cash in ALabama with my uncle...but anyways..what are the requirements to do this? _________________
~Akirex D. DarkFlare~
Thats why truecrypt has another level of security, you can embed more secret files into the end of a truecrypt partion that cannot be recognized at all unless you tell truecrypt to look there for them and supply the right password.
You have the regular truecrypt disk image, then on top of that you have a secret hidden image inside it. _________________
Posted: Thu May 08, 2008 3:03 pm Post subject: wow fast internet
It's funny when you seemingly brag about having a 1000kbit internet speed. Standard here in Netherlands is 20,000kbit, that's right, I constantly see downloads of 1.5 to 2.3 megaBYTE per second, thats 100Mb in less than a minute.... sweeeeet
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I was not using it, so I decided it will make a perfect hiding place.
..not to mention I'm ALREADY in trouble for trying to tinker with my PS3's harddrive and trying to get high speed dial up!but hey..great tutorial..no.1 smartest..I'm not scared either!And I must say..you MUST of used to work in construction at some point(for a little summer job)I am going away this whole summmer to make some cash in ALabama with my uncle...but anyways..what are the requirements to do this?
