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Best way to password protect an external hard drive


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#1
bruceb3

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A few years ago I tried to password protect a drive. It had about 10 Gb of data on it and every time I wanted to go into the drive, it took forever to un-encrypt it. Are there any ways that are faster now? I thought of a LaCie drive with the fingerprint reader on it, but someone said the drive could still be removed and put into another enclosure. I have a 40 Gb external drive and need a way to encrypt it where it doesn't take forever to open it. Thanks!
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#2
phillip22

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You can create a folder on it, put all your stuff in that folder then encrypt the folder -- but you need to have quality encryption software if you want something that can't easily be cracked -- and that means paying for it. Pointless me pointing you anywhere. Just use google and search for "encryption software". You'll get more 'hits' than you can shake a stick at.
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#3
Fllash

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Alternatively, you could use the free application TrueCrypt, which, using (your choice of) encryption algorithms, allows you to create a file, which is then mounted, and acts as a separate drive, using a separate letter.

So for example, you create a 10 GB encrypted file. Then, you run TrueCrypt, point it to the file, it asks for the password, and then mounts it to (again, your choice of) a free drive letter.

From there, you can access the files on the encrypted partition, copy files accross, and so forth. When you are finnished, you select the option to unmount any encrypted partitions (you can simultaneously mount multiple partitions), and voila.

What I would reccomend, should you persue this solution, is to install TrueCrypt on your external hard drive, then create the file on the drive, and then copy the data accross. This way, you can access the partition from any system (Windows and Linux).

Thanks,
Josh.
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