1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an encryption removable storage system that enables different types of storage devices to be conveniently added or removed from a cradle of a computer or equipment and with data encryption/decryption ability, so as to achieve the goal of protecting the data of the storage devices.
2. Description of Related Art
A standard desktop computer typically provides one or more compartments (also called drive bays) for the installation of 5¼ inch or 3½ inch storage devices such as CD ROM, DVD ROM or CDRW drive, hard drive, ZIP, SuperDisk etc. Because of space limitation, many desktop computers, Kiosk or computing equipment have only one to two drive bays, thus limiting the number of devices that can be installed. Once a storage device is installed into the drive compartment or drive bay, replacement or upgrade of the storage device requires careful disassembling and reassembling of the computer by a trained technician.
Data storage devices primary fall into two categories: the removable storage and hard disk storage. These two types of data storage devices offer different advantages depending on the type of applications.
In the removable storage, the storage media can be replaced as more storage space is needed. Cost of the media is relatively inexpensive. But the data transfer rate for removable storage devices in general are much slower than hard disk storage. Thus the removable storage is great for data archiving. To access the data stored on a removable storage media, the computer must have a compatible drive that can read the data from the media. Example, a CDRW drive or CD-ROM drive is needed to access the data on a CDRW media, a DVD drive is needed to access data on a DVD media, a 250 MB-ZIP drive is needed to access data on a 250 MB ZIP media. As a result, in order for a computer to access data on a variety of removable media, it must be equipped with various types of drives.
In the case of hard disk storage, the media and the drive are integrated together. With this design, the data transfer rate for hard drive is much faster than the removable storage. Thus hard disk is great for storing program files, for storing data that are accessed all the time and for streaming video application. Since the hard drive and the storage media are all integrated in one unit, the computer can access the data stored in a hard drive by connecting up the hard disk controller cable and the power cable from inside a computer to the hard drive. But this way of connecting a hard drive to a computer usually requires opening up the computer and technical skill.
External hard drive solves the problem of connecting a drive to a computer without opening up the computers. The external hard drives attach to a computer via one of the common I/O ports on a computer: USB, Firewire or PCMCIA. Since all the external hard drives are constructed with an enclosure to house the hard drive and the interface electronics. The additional cost of the housing and interface electronics make the external hard drive much more expensive than an internal IDE drive. So when an external hard drive capacity is used up, the user will have to purchase another external hard drive in order to have more data storage capacity. In addition, the external hard drive with this traditional design also limits its use to a single interface. If you have an external USB hard drive, a computer that has no USB port will not be able to use the hard drive.
However, the prior art external hard drives do not support data encryption/decryption function, so the external hard drives can be added into any cradle device of a computer or equipment, and the data of the hard drives can be easily access without any difficulty; therefore, the vital information of a company or personal of the hard drives may be stolen due to use the external hard drives without support data encryption/decryption function.
Therefore, the solution or invention in this patent deals with an encryption removable storage system that enables different types of storage devices to be conveniently added or removed from a cradle of a computer or equipment and with data encryption/decryption ability.