Patent ID: 7937540

Claim:
A portable storage device detachably connected to a computer, having a plurality of storage areas for accessing from the computer, the portable storage device comprising: a program storage area that stores a computer program loaded into the computer for executing an operation of the computer; a device driver program being loaded into the computer for controlling an access to the portable storage device from the computer; an auto program being loaded into the computer for automatically loading the device driver program into the computer when the portable storage device is connected to the computer; a first data storage area that stores data freely accessed by the computer; and a second data storage area that stores private and confidential data limitedly accessed by the computer, and wherein the device driver program causes the computer to execute: determining whether an activation directory for a process that requests for an access to the second data storage area matches an access-permitted directory, the access-permitted directory being a directory where a specific loaded computer program which is permitted to access to the second storage area is stored, and allowing the access to the second data storage area when the activation directory matches the access-permitted directory, and rejecting the access to the second data storage area when the activation directory does not match the access-permitted directory, whereby only the specific loaded computer program is allowed to access to the second data storage area.