IronClad - "PC on a stick"

IronClad is a secure USB drive shrinks your laptop onto a rugged, portable flash drive the size of a stick of gum.


This is amazing; This is the future of computers;
I cant wait to get one;
In the future I could see these costing as much as regular USB drives today like 10 to 20 dollars each


[edit on 26-4-2010 by DjSharperimage]

Just create a bootable USB drive.
Anything over 4gb will give you enough space for a linux or XP OS.

Then encrypt with truecrypt..

reply to post by DjSharperimage


Being in the computer field this has me pretty excited. However it isn't all that new. Most modern USB drives allow the installation of an operating system and applications directly to it, however, size is generally and issue. I was thinking this was just a glorified USB drive to start, but the features and software that seem to be included are genuinely amazing.

To start, the security and safety far surpasses any USB drive on the market today. The software used to monitor the drives for enterprise use and determine access rights - that is truly amazing as well. It seems internal hard drives will be a thing of the past as employees would not be responsible for their own workstations at work and at home.

The final gem of this is the remote data erase. I'm not exactly sure how such technology would work, especially if not connected to the internet or a network of some sort - but the ability to wipe a drive remotely when lost is truly new age stuff and will be the next evolution in computer security.




Now, as for the cons. Space is still an issue. According to their site the Ironclad only comes in 8GB and 16 GB models which costs either $475 or $600 per unite respectively. They also charge a $275 annual fee for the tracking of the devices. This, at least for now, isn't at its top capabilities and is not for personal use unless you happen to have a lot of money to throw around for a USB stick. To make things worse, they have a minimum purchase of 200 units.

So no individual purchase yet but hopefully, when and if it does become consumer usable, the price will drop. We shall see if other companies follow suit in the coming months/years.

S&F.

Slightly less functional but completely more secure and portable than an idea I had 10 years ago for a PDA sized computer that ran a complete OS, hosted peripherals and could plug into empty cores to function as a laptop or desktop. There was even the idea of incorporating a flexible OLED screen in a scroll system for easier viewing (when the price came down to something reasonable). But if you are going to dream, dream big. And believe me, it was beyond bleeding edge in thought for the time.

Of course back then a USB Thumb drive was not available so the idea used CF Cards for storage.

Some of my online ramblings were enough to get me invited to a developer's area of the Sharp Zaurus while they were prototyping the first model. The promised a full function demo in exchange for an NDA, but backed out when I wasn't a programer.

There was a company that was working on a small form factor PDA/palmtop sized machine that used a 486, but their name escapes me.

But as far as the closest thing that I envisioned today would be the OQO Model 2+. Given the tech and limited demand the $1800-$2300 price tag is fair. But keep in mind it is just a miniature netbook.

reply to post by gwydionblack


I'm a computer tech also and got excited until I saw that these only came in 8GB and 16GB. How can you load your entire operating system and applications onto such a small drive? My Windows 7 folder alone is almost 18.5GB and that doesn't include any of my apps. 32GB should be the minimum size USB stick for Windows and apps.

Originally posted by _BoneZ_
reply to post by gwydionblack

 

I'm a computer tech also and got excited until I saw that these only came in 8GB and 16GB. How can you load your entire operating system and applications onto such a small drive? My Windows 7 folder alone is almost 18.5GB and that doesn't include any of my apps. 32GB should be the minimum size USB stick for Windows and apps.

W7 yes, XP or any form of Linux as mentioned earlier, can easily fit on an 8 or 16gb with plenty of room to spare. Hell there are still some linux versions around that can boot off a 700mb cd.

Though you could still truecrypt a 64gb drive and make it bootable. Its not really groundbreaking technology to put an OS and programs on a bootable usb

[edit on 26-4-2010 by SlasherOfVeils]

I have a 8gb microsdhc card with adapter running linux netbook remix and there's plenty of room for basic wordprocessing, browsing, document transfer etc.

I can run the above image from a 4gb stick too.. but obviously lose the transfer space

Lockheed Martin, can it fly?! Can it call in a UAV?!

neat.. but not amazing
doesn't take a lot to encrypt a USB....
oodles of different linux OS's for USB's that run from RAM and bypass the hard drive (typing this on an ancient system with no hard drive) and leave "no traces"... unless you consider the network traffic traces..
seems turning it into a "brick" only results when it accesses the network it was set up for and the network recognizes it as lost/stolen then causes it to "self - destruct".. that's not how I'd define self - destruct.. I want mission impossible type self destruct... with the smoke and the flash
seems all I need to do is write a batch file that counts invalid password attempts then wipes the contents of my drive after so many failed attempts.....
and make the browser direct to a page on my home server with embedded script to fry the drive if it logs on after I've deemed it lost
to, me, the most impressive thing is the encasing it in epoxy, i like that idea
release it to the public, it'll be cracked in a couple days.....

lockheed ?
no thanks.

I already have my entire hard drive, OS (Ubuntu) and all...
on a USB drive already. Totally encrypted, and I can run it from any computer,
and it is just like I am running my own PC at home... no difference whatsoever,
other than Im not on my actual , physical machine at home.

and.. I did it myself! lol

another ripoff from warmongers,
again,
no thanks.

DIY or dont bother. lol


[edit on 26-4-2010 by Ahmose]

still though, it is lockheed, so there has to be something to it....
I'd really like to see just how they've addressed network keyloggers
that has to be interesting