Password Protect Hard Drive

[atomichybrid]

@OhSnapWord, I've had a look at it and it seems to be okay, though I do have a question, what if my computer gets formatted and all, what will happen to the bit locked media? Would I still be able to remove it? or would it think its another computer that it cant trust since its like a fresh install, which will probably screw me.

This might be a follow-up question to the previous, can I also assume that other computers with bitlock can also decrypt (remove bitlock) if the correct password is entered? so not your own computer say like a friends one.

Also can operating systems that dont support bitlocker still access with the password protection and all? or can your removable media can only be accessed through bitlocked enabled OS's.

I might move my data into the portable device like a usb hard drive to keep my files secure, if it works well.

 

[OhSnapWord]

I don't have any experience with bitlocker, there might be a way to export the key and back it up, this way if you need to access the data from a different machine, you can.

 

[iPwn]

what if my computer gets formatted and all, what will happen to the bit locked media?

Let's back up a little here. I don't think you have a good understanding of how encryption works.

Encryption is basically scrambling the data on the drive. You encrypt entire volumes with BitLocker. It's not a special container of any sorts, only drive space with data that has been rearranged so it becomes unreadable without the password to 'decrypt'.

Now with BitLocker, it will work on any Windows OS from XP SP3 forward (reading the data) because on the encrypted drive, Windows also stores a small executable to unlock in the event you access the data on an OS that doesn't have BitLocker natively installed. You can 'unlock' the drive from any PC that will support that executable.

Formatting is formatting. If you format the drive, the encrypted data is not spared.

The best application for this type of encryption is whole disk encryption on the host drive. For encrypting USB's, BitLocker works well enough but Linux systems won't be able to access the data. Other solutions like TrueCrypt are available cross platform (I'm pretty sure). Other Windows PC's though won't have a problem as long as they are XP SP3 or newer.

Also, when you encrypt the drive, you will be asked where you want to store the backup key. This is a file that has to be used with the BitLocker program in order to decrypt the data in the event you forget the password.


I hope this answered some questions...

 

[atomichybrid]

@ iPwn, I see, that explains quite a lot. Yeah I think you might have misunderstood my question I hope this clarifies. I initially I wanted to know if your portable hard drive is bitlocked but your PC is formatted I can still remove the bitlock encryption on another computer (assuming the OS has bitlocking capabilities)? But I think your answer kind of explains it and well it doesnt seem that bitlock is limited to 1 computer.

 

[iPwn]

I initially I wanted to know if your portable hard drive is bitlocked but your PC is formatted I can still remove the bitlock encryption on another computer (assuming the OS has bitlocking capabilities)?

I only encrypt usbs that have sensitive data on them. I Can access that data on any windows pc. My root drive is encrypted as well but I guess doesn't apply to this scenario.

You can also encrypt individual files with a utility called AxCrypt. That also has a portable decrypting exe that you can place on the USB. You still need the password so your files are safe.