Security of paired storage drives

A host device to store media content on a user-supplied storage device, the host device comprising:

• an interface to physically and electrically couple with the user-supplied storage device;
• a memory configured to store computer-executable instructions;
• and
• a processor configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to perform an automated process that comprises:
• recognizing, by the processor, that the user-supplied storage device has bene inserted into the interface of the host device;
• initially creating, by the processor, a device identifier and a user identifier, wherein the device identifier is based upon a unique identification of the host device, and wherein the user identifier is based upon a unique identification of the user;
• storing the device identifier and the user identifier on the user-provided storage device via the interface;
• subsequently verifying the user-provided storage device by recreating the device identifier and the user identifier based upon information then available to the host device, reading the device and user identifiers previously stored on the user-provided storage device via the interface, comparing the re-created device and user identifiers to the device identifier and user identifier previously stored on the user-supplied storage device, and pairing the storage device to the host device to thereby permit subsequent digital communication between the storage device and the host device when the recreated device identifier matches the previously-stored device identifier or when the recreated user identifier matches the previously-stored user identifier, and otherwise not pairing the user-supplied storage device to the host device, wherein, after pairing with the user-supplied storage device, the host device is further operable to encrypt only a portion of the content stored on the user-supplied storage device.

A host device comprising:

• a memory configured to store computer-executable instructions;
• a network interface to communicate via a digital network;
• a storage interface to physically and electrically couple with a user-supplied storage device;
• and
• a processor, wherein the processor is configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to perform an automated process that comprises:
• recognizing that the user-provided storage device has been inserted into a port of the host device;
• initially creating a device identifier and a user identifier, wherein the device identifier is based upon a unique identification of the host device, and wherein the user identifier is based upon a unique identification of the user;
• providing the device identifier and the user identifier to the user-provided storage device for storage of the device identifier and the user identifier by the user-provided storage device;
• subsequently verifying the user-provided storage device by the host device, wherein the subsequently verifying comprises:
• digitally re-creating the device identifier based upon the unique identification of the host device;
• reading the previously-stored device identifier and the previously-stored user identifier from the user-provided storage device;
• digitally comparing the re-created device identifier with the previously-stored device identifier;
• pairing the storage device to the host device when the recreated device identifier matches the previously-stored device identifier;
• when the re-created device identifier does not match the previously-stored device identifier, re-creating the user identifier based upon user information currently available to the host device and comparing the re-created user identifier with the previously-stored user identifier and, when the re-created user identifier matches the previously-stored user identifier, pairing the storage device to the host device;
• and
• after pairing with the user-supplied storage device, the host device encrypting only a portion of the content stored on the user-supplied storage device.