Issue:
Larger (>4GB) USB media encrypted with SecureDoc RMCE (Removable Media Container Encryption) will not use nearly 100% of the media, no matter if the SES Profile Settings define that 100% of the media is to be used (which is the default).
Reason:
The FAT32 filesystem has a 4GB maximum file size.
An encrypted container is a file, so a FAT32 USB memory stick that's larger than 4GB in size will not end up fully container-protected.
A straight Removable Media Container creation on a large FAT32 (> 4GB) stick will create the maximum size of container possible (if set to 100%), but due to the maximum container (a file) size being 4GB on a FAT32 filesystem, it will leave a substantial amount of unprotected space, which is space into which customers could inadvertently store information at risk.
For example, an 8GB stick will still have about 50% unprotected space. A 16GB stick will have 75% unprotected space, and so on.
Solution:
Customers are encouraged to format larger (> 4GB) USB media using the exFAT filesystem. exFAT does not share this 4GB maximum file size limitation.
If the SecureDoc-protected Client has been configured to automatically format the stick, it will format memory sticks of 4GB size and less as FAT32, and all larger memory sticks using exFAT, so with that setting the problem tends to be self-correcting.
Considerations:
However, if an existing larger (> 4GB) Memory stick is inserted that had previously been formatted using FAT32 and the option to automatically format the stick has NOT been selected, there will exist the risk that SecureDoc's Removable Media Container Encryption will create the largest container possible, which will not occupy the majority of the media space.
NOTE: exFAT is well-supported on the Apple Mac platform, and so RMCE-protected USB sticks will continue to be accessible on either the Windows or Mac platforms.