Promotional USB drives are valuable - and why shouldn't they be? They offer, in one tiny package, a way to transfer information that would have required tons of paper or a much bulkier transport system just a decade ago. It allows people to share things that would have been practically impossible to do so just five years ago. This had led to the use of it as a method of sharing digital data and for businesses, a way to easily transport sensitive data between offices without too much trouble.

Naturally that means that keeping promotional USB drives safe and secure is something that every company should know. This is doubly important for security related businesses such as a bodyguard agency or industrial data as losing these could cost money and at the worst case, lives. Most people might not be carrying such sensitive data but security is important for everyone.

Other security systems opt to secure specific files rather than the entire drive. Microsoft's Office programs, for example, have built in security options. As will all password systems, users should take care and make sure that the password is personally memorable or itself hidden somewhere to make sure that the file isn't lost because they could not recover its password.

For those with some capital, a program called Folder Lock is an effective method of locking down a drive. Additionally, it requires no additional installation on each computer that will attempt to access that information, which can be extremely useful in a corporate setting where program installation is traditionally limited or frowned upon.

Its versatility lies in the fact that it can either protect the entirety of the drive or specific folders or files with passwords. Should the user require more, it also offers encryption services that limit access to people with the program.

For more sensitive data, users may opt to use a program called Securestix. It secures data using high level encryption methods - high level enough that even security experts will have trouble breaking through its defence methods.

While this is about USB drives, take note that many of these security options work on a desktop or laptop computer as well, which can secure the source of the files and work as an additional layer of security. Protecting the host computer can make sure that there are no security loopholes.

At the end of the day, the best security is to simply keep it within sight range at all times to make sure that it does not fall into the wrong hands.