How do I know if someone has accessed my USB drive?

Antonio Velázquez January 23, 2012

I left my USB at a friend’s house, and I believe he saw some personal files I had in it.

I’m a fool ’cause they weren’t password protected, I know. but right now I want software or something that can tell me the “history” of my USB. I mean, the latest opened or copied documents.

Is there anything like that?

 

  1. Orr Andrewm
    January 31, 2012 at 12:44 pm

    Truecrypt is your best bet. It's free and works very well. Also simple to use.

  2. Antonio Velázquez
    January 24, 2012 at 6:14 pm

    Thanks to you all! apparently, my friend didn't check anything :)

    • zh23
      June 13, 2012 at 4:22 pm

      Hey man ! I am in a similar situation and I feel my files have been compromised recently. Can you tell me how you came to your conclusion ?

      Thanks !

      Really appreciate your help :)

      • Oron
        June 15, 2012 at 7:12 pm

        One simple way is to check the "date accesed" details for the relevant files. Only problem is, you mustn't open the files yourself between the time you got the disk back and the check!

        • zh23
          June 16, 2012 at 10:20 pm

          Hey ! I happen to have windows 7 and this date accessed feature is not enabled. And I know my friend has windows 7 too so the date won't be updated even if he accessed it.

  3. Jack Cola
    January 24, 2012 at 1:19 pm

    Just have a look at when the files where last accessed by right clicking on the files you want to see if they are accessed and select properties. It will show the last access date (when the file was last opened), Last modified date (when the file was last saved). If these dates are different to what you think they should be, someone has probably read them.

  4. Paul
    January 24, 2012 at 11:51 am

    Depending on how many files you have on the USB, what you can do is right-click on the files and click properties.  There it should give you information about the file such as when it was created, last modified, and last accessed.  That way you can see if the files were opened while the USB was in the possession of your friend.  

    This works if you only have a few files to go through.  If there are a lot of files, I'm sure there are programs out there that can give this kind of information in a larger setting.

    • Bh0687
      January 24, 2012 at 12:24 pm

      This would work using the detail view in windows explorer (if your using that Operating System)
      but ive found using properties then the last accessed entries is the present rather than the previous time it was opened, helpful...not lol

  5. Oscardp321
    January 24, 2012 at 11:47 am

    You can right click the files and select properties. It should tell you in the window the last time it has been modified which updates if someone opens to read.

  6. Antonio Velázquez
    January 23, 2012 at 5:43 pm

    not what i was looking for, but it seems a good tool to password protect my files... and yes, it seems to work on USB

  7. FIDELIS
    January 23, 2012 at 4:29 am

    Hello, if it was to find USB history in your computer, you could use USBDeview by nirsoft.  It probably will not tell you what files were opened, by it would tell you the last time/date it was plug in:

    http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/usb_devices_view.html

    Also, you could find the history in registry under USB and USBStor entries.  Only problem is, you would have to access registry in your friend's computer.  To see the history you could navigate to next two entries in registry.  It would only tell you the last time it was accessed and also when was accessed the first time:

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetEnumUSB
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetEnumUSBSTOR

    • Antonio Velázquez
      January 23, 2012 at 5:45 pm

      thanks for your answer, perhaps i'll need to check my friend's computer :S bloody hell :(

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