Patent ID: 8356118

Claim:
A removable storage device configured to be connected to a host computer, said removable storage device comprising: a storage unit on which one or more storage areas are allocated to a plurality of users, the storage unit connectable to the host computer via a direct local connection; a control unit configured to, when the storage device receives authentication success information indicating that authentication for one of the users is succeeded from the host computer or other external device, simulatively mount the storage area allocated to the authenticated user so that the storage area is visible to the user and unmount the storage area allocated to another user; and a configuration information storage section configured to store, for each user, user identification information and storage area configuration information concerning a configuration of the storage area allocated to the user in association with each other, wherein the control unit comprises a logic device section, wherein the authentication success information contains the user identification information of the authenticated user, and wherein the logic device section is configured to: (i) when said storage device is connected to the host computer via the direct local connection, transmit device configuration information to the host computer, the device configuration information indicating that said storage device is a storage medium processing device to which a removable storage medium is mountable; (ii) upon reception of the authentication success information, notify the host computer that the removable storage medium is mounted to the storage medium processing device; and (iii) upon reception of a request for sending the device configuration information of the removable storage medium from the host computer, transmit the device configuration information concerning the allocated storage area to the user indicated in the user identification information contained in the received authentication success information to the host computer as the device configuration information of the removable storage medium.