Is there a free program out there on download.com that someone would recommend to encrypt a hard drive?

Vista is all about "security" - does creating a log on/password when the computer starts do ANYTHING as far as security goes?

I think if we all take a step back and realize if one of our dumb roommates left the door open - and someone stole the ol cpu, we'd be screwed with personal information stored on it.

What's the easiest way to encrypt the drive or prevent anyone from viewing it if it were to be stolen?

4/10/2009 7:31:19 PM

I've use truecrypt with good results

4/10/2009 7:46:20 PM

truecrypt is the best, hands down: http://www.truecrypt.org/

4/10/2009 8:14:56 PM

doesn't NTFS support encrypted filesystems? Why not use the native encryption?

4/10/2009 8:25:07 PM

Quote :

"Vista is all about "security" - does creating a log on/password when the computer starts do ANYTHING as far as security goes?"

4/10/2009 8:36:20 PM

personal information is not stored on a cpu

4/10/2009 8:44:53 PM

lol

4/10/2009 9:31:29 PM

but its 2ghz !!

4/10/2009 10:08:25 PM

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BitLocker_Drive_Encryption

Vista Ultimate and Enterprise come with BitLocker, and it's fucking awesome.

4/11/2009 3:58:15 AM

I used AES-256 loopba...oh, Vista

4/11/2009 4:12:54 AM

I've always used drivecrypt. The company that makes it has several proucts, one of them should do whatever you're wanting. Anything from an encrypted container file to encrypting entire hard drives or having hidden partitions.

4/11/2009 10:13:44 AM

Quote :

"truecrypt is the best, hands down: http://www.truecrypt.org/ "

what type of encryption do I want? it gives like 8 different choices

4/11/2009 10:35:10 AM

It really won't matter unless you're seriously trying to keep like the FBI out of your shit.

4/11/2009 10:40:26 AM

4/11/2009 10:58:20 AM

Quote :

"and someone stole the ol cpu, we'd be screwed with personal information stored on it."

if someone stole your cpu, you'd be fine. your hard drive is what stores information.

also, they'd have to be pretty dedicated to go to the trouble of removing the HSF just to steal your cpu.

4/11/2009 12:24:11 PM

Q: Did Carolina deserve to win?
A: Carolina never deserves to win, or Duke for that matter. ChaCha on!

4/11/2009 12:34:26 PM

TO BE FAIR...for the longest time, every teacher i had referred to the tower (or horizontal case, whatever) as the CPU, as it could indeed be referred to as the central processing unit (since it's not like your monitor or mouse or keyboard or printer is doing most of the processing)

4/11/2009 4:04:35 PM

gpg or the built in file system encryption

4/12/2009 3:14:52 AM

TrueCrypt ftw!

I use either AES-Serpent-TwoFish or AES-TwoFish-Serpent.

Both run about 88MBps on a 10k RPM WD Raptor drive... Make sure you have a strong processor to handle the processing, I use a Q9450.

Make sure you move that mouse around for >60 seconds on the key creation screen.

And yeah you want to use a pass phrase >25 characters with all (a-z, A-Z, 0-9, !-+) used at least once in your phrase!

4/12/2009 10:15:36 PM

^BitLocker uses either 128bit or 256bit AES as well.

And it has almost zero operating overhead, either on disk or CPU usage. Unlike all of these software options, it uses TPM hardware and or a USB key which makes it far less vulnerable to attack. It's also a hell of a lot easier to deploy in a intranet environment.

I used BestCrypt for a long time, but it, like most software encryption apps, was slow and cumbersome.

4/13/2009 2:20:54 AM

If you have a version of Vista that supports it, use Bitlocker. I've had no issues with it. You can encrypt the hard drive AFTER the OS is installed. Otherwise, if you only want a section of your hard drive encrypted for sensitive documents, go with TrueCrypt.

Unless you deal with super-sensitive crap on your home computer, or are that paranoid, I'd recommend against whole hard drive encryption. Go with TrueCrypt, you'll be that much happier.

4/13/2009 10:20:01 AM

how does this actually work - do you create a password on your own or does it generate a password and you have to store it somewhere?

Do you have to enter it only anytime after the drive is either powered off or disconnected?

4/13/2009 6:25:43 PM

^dude you asked the question in the first place. We gave you options, go read about how they work. Each one is slightly different.

4/13/2009 10:19:24 PM

it was a legit question for someone familiar with the programs....

[Edited on April 14, 2009 at 7:33 AM. Reason : .]

4/14/2009 7:33:37 AM

how do you start in safe mode with truecrypt?

There doesn't seem to be an option to hit F8 or F12 b/c it goes from enter password straight to the loading of the operating system

4/26/2009 10:41:39 AM