The original post: /r/hacking by /u/kahagino on 2024-04-24 10:57:10.

A friend of mine bought a software that costs ~4000$. It is highly specialized domain which I think allows them to apply such prices. The software only opens when the USB key is plugged in.

My friend will now move frequently between two cities and he needs to work from his laptop. He asked me to install the software on it. Which I did and works well. But what if the key is lost or breaks? The company doesn’t want to give a pair.

Is it possible to duplicate this USB key? I was thinking of using dd command in linux to make a copy and put it on another key. But when I plug the USB in Windows, it doesn’t show anywhere. So that is where I thought that it was some kind of special USB devices, and maybe it’s copy-protected? Like will it block itself if I try to duplicate it?

I’ve never seen or heard of anything like that, which I find interesting.