hard disc encryption windows

  • Thread starter Thread starter Hans Pesata
  • Start date Start date
H

Hans Pesata

Hi!

I am looking for tools which offer the possibility to encrypt partitions
on PCs running WINDOWS2000/XP.

any hints on this would be greatly apreciated,
thanx in advance!

best regrads,
Hans Pesata
 
XP Pro will do it for you, at the folder level:

To encrypt a file or folder

1.. Open Windows Explorer.
2.. Right-click the file or folder that you want to encrypt, and then
click Properties.
3.. On the General tab, click Advanced.
4.. Select the Encrypt contents to secure data check box.
Tom
 
Hi!

Thanx for the replies!

I need a software to protect data stored on notebooks.
if one of these noteboosk gets stolen, NOBODY should be able to read the
files on it.

thanx in advance for any further suggestions!

best regrads,
Hans Pesata
 
Thanx for the replies!
Click to expand...
I need a software to protect data stored on notebooks.
if one of these noteboosk gets stolen, NOBODY should
be able to read the files on it.
Click to expand...

If you want it secure enough so that the legal authoritys
cant see the child porn, you have a problem.
 
I am looking for tools which offer the possibility to encrypt partitions
on PCs running WINDOWS2000/XP.
Click to expand...

SeNTry 2020 will create a disk file of any size you choose, and it
builds an encrypted file system into it.

I think it's a great product. Although, I'd like it better if it did
SHA-256 encryption.
 
SeNTry 2020 will create a disk file of any size you choose, and it
builds an encrypted file system into it.
Click to expand...

I forgot the web page:
http://www.softwinter.com

I just looked at the Jetico web pile. Their encryption product seems
quite similar to SeNTry 2020. Nice to have a choice.
 
XP Pro will do it for you, at the folder level:

To encrypt a file or folder

1.. Open Windows Explorer.
2.. Right-click the file or folder that you want to encrypt, and then
click Properties.
3.. On the General tab, click Advanced.
4.. Select the Encrypt contents to secure data check box.
Click to expand...

Caveats (or warnings):

- if you re-install Windows, you won't be able to
decrypt your encrypted files
- if you move the disc to another system, you won't be
able to read the files

There are ways to backup your EFS encryption keys... so
good luck.
 
Hi!

Thanx for the replies!

I need a software to protect data stored on notebooks.
if one of these noteboosk gets stolen, NOBODY should be able to read the
files on it.

thanx in advance for any further suggestions!
Click to expand...

EFS works well as a down-n-dirty method... just make
sure you have non-encrypted backups of anything you've
encrypted. (Unless you extract, and test, the private
keys used by EFS...)

PGPDisk and DriveCrypt work well by creating virtual
volume files on the disk that can be attached as a new
drive letter, or a new mount point in an empty folder.
(e.g. MyStuff.PGD can be mounted as P: or as C:\MyStuff
\). Advantage of virtual volumes are that they can be
mounted as needed, reducing the window of exposure.
Downsides are that they have to be unmounted to be
backed up (unless you have a 2nd encrypted volume that
you copy the files to on another machine), and WinXP
doesn't like drives that mount/unmount (encrypted
volumes may not always show up in Windows Explorer).

For financial records, encrypted volumes are a good
choice, mounting only when needed, and backing them off
to archival media (CD/DVD) occasionally. Make the
volume a tiny bit smaller then the media size (200Mb,
680Mb, 4200Mb) and create a PAR2 (QuickPar) recover set
to fill out the rest of the disc.

For access instructions (passwords), I store them in a
plain text file, but encrypt the contents using GPG/PGP.
Even if the box is cracked / trojaned and the data
siphoned off, the contents of the file are still
encrypted.

Also see the alt.security.pgp newsgroup.
 
If you use a backup utility designed at least for Windows 2000, an encrypted
file is still saved encrypted (raw info plus encrypted key).
 
Back
Top