How would I go about password protecting an external (USB) HDD? I’m running Win8.1. I tried BitLocker but apparently that’s only avail to Pro and Enterprise users. I checked TrueCrypt but it looks like 8.1 isn’t supported.
I don’t need anything fancy, just free. And of course the easier to use the better.
Any suggestions? Thanks
According to Microsoft, version 7 of truecrypt is compatible.
The easiest solution is to create an encrypted volume on the disk rather than trying to encrypt the entire disk. You can allocate virtually all of the space for the volume which would essentially be the same thing and since you’re going to need to enter a password every time anyway, it will probably mean fewer compatibility issues.
I have several HDD’s where almost all of the space is allocated to encrypted volumes. I’ve never seen the point of involving the operating system any more than I had to.
OK, I’m going to try TrueCrypt. Just one more thing, your opinion. What I’m trying to encrypt are some photos, videos, etc. Nothing like the whole OS. Would it be OK to just encrypt the whole drive as is with the files already there? Or should I allocate a volume then copy the files over?
Thanks again.
IDK. I’ve never encrypted an entire drive but if TC let’s you do that with the data already on the drive, that might be the easiest way. It will probably be the fastest but I really have no idea. Just be sure to keep a backup though in case anything goes wrong.