Best (and easiest) way to password protect portable HD?

[TurboChrisB]

I have several portable hard drives I'd like to password protect.

Any recommendations?

[stilly]

Bit Locker. Windows 7 has it with native support unless you have a cheap version of windows 7.

http://merabheja.com/free-usb-encryp...sword-protect/ <== here are several others that are freeware.

[moond0ggie]

BitLocker is a full disk encryption feature included with Windows Vista and later. It is designed to protect data by providing encryption for entire volumes.

ha ha, dont use ANYTHING authored by MS.
Go open source.....& dont lose your key.

MajorGeeks...trusted source.

[ocabj]

ha ha, dont use ANYTHING authored by MS.
Go open source.....& dont lose your key.

I hope this isn't what you tell your employer, clients, customers, or whomever you advise. If you do, I hope you at least provide a risk assessment on the solution you go/went with.

[moond0ggie]

employer, clients, & customers
get free support for crappy, snooping products...& daily snoop updates...
I'm not a fan of MS after their incessant efforts at Telementry.
I mentioned what I think is a better option, third party, open source.
It may take a little extra work, but for an enthusiast, its the only answer.

[67Cuda]

Bitlocker will work, but unless you use it from the start it will only encrypt what goes on after you start using it.

[the86d]

Many linux distros have support for disk encryption OOTB...

[cid`]

I have several portable hard drives I'd like to password protect.

Any recommendations?

biggest deciding factors are:

1)when you password protect it, do you want to be able to open it from any computer as long as you have the/a password?

or

do you ONLY want to decrypt on your computer.. items like bitlocker HAVE to have the encryption keys backed up for safe keeping, but also installed or available to decrypt a volume.

2) just FYI, regardless of any software you use, if someone takes it, plugs it in and doesnt know the password, they can still just format it, because you do not have hardware write protection on the disk, and the protected volume/partition is still just a file system of some type.



for ease, bestcrypt, truecrypt, encryptonclick (these apply to just a password prompt)

[TurboChrisB]

Ultimately I'd like to be able to access the data on my PC's and Macs. Does bit locker work across both platforms? I suppose I could move everything onto one drive then back once encrypted.

[cid`]

bitlocker is a windows pro only feature. The feature of going between diff operating systems knocks your choices down, honestly, truecrypt is probably your best choice since you can decrypt from both operating systems as soon as its plugged in to each pc

[billofrights]

employer, clients, & customers
get free support for crappy, snooping products...& daily snoop updates...
I'm not a fan of MS after their incessant efforts at Telementry.
I mentioned what I think is a better option, third party, open source.
It may take a little extra work, but for an enthusiast, its the only answer.

..But you didn't. You just posted a link repository. You didn't mention a recommendation or bother to give any info on why your pick is better. You might as well have just said "LOL LINUX> M$"

[FeuerFrei]

Veracrypt forked from truecrypt (old & done) and works on Mac OS + MS Win as well as Linux distros du jour. Free... [emoji16][emoji106]

Sent using a long string and 2 Dixie cups

[SkyHawk]

Well it looks like a spammer necroposted here and revived the thread. He gone now.

Anyhow this is what I use, I don’t mess with software. They have USB, SSD, and conventional drives up to 12TB.

https://www.apricorn.com

[TriumphantApe]

It's already been mentioned Veracrypt, does containers and full drive.
Don't lose your key there's no coming back this stuff.