Patent ID: 7278016

Claim:
A method for protecting data written from a general purpose computer processor system to a removable storage device comprising drive logic and storage medium, said method comprising: transparently generating a unique, non-accessible encryption key within a general purpose computer processor system, wherein the unique, non-accessible encryption key is generated from at least one unique hardware characteristic of the general purpose computer processor system without any seed data being presented to the general purpose computer processor system from outside the general purpose computer processor system; automatically encrypting the data using said unique encryption key to produce encrypted data; employing a removable storage device associated with the general purpose computer processor system to store said encrypted data without storing said unique encryption key on said removable storage device, said removable storage device comprising drive logic and storage medium, wherein encrypted data stored on the removable device can only be decrypted by the general purpose computer processor system establishing the unique, non-accessible encryption key; wherein said automatically encrypting is transparent to a user application running on said general purpose computer processor system, said user application providing said data to be stored from said general purpose computer processor system to said storage medium of said removable storage device; wherein said generating comprises embedding within hardware of said general purpose computer processor system said unique encryption key; and wherein said embedding comprises embedding said unique encryption key within a drive controller of said general purpose computer processor system.