Hi, I have a WD My Passport Ultra portable drive which comes with password protection to secure the data in case of loss. But I also have a Seagate one which does NOT come with such a feature. Is there another method I could use to password-protect these drives, perhaps built-in to Windows 10? I would probably prefer that anyway because I don't like using the pre-installed software that comes on portable drives...
If you have Windows 10 Pro or Enterprise you can use BitLocker.
This seems to be free:
i think BitLocker encrypts the data (which takes a while) rather than simply password-protect, no?If you have Windows 10 Pro or Enterprise you can use BitLocker.
This seems to be free:
That would be correct, but it would only be a one time encryption of the existing data.i think BitLocker encrypts the data (which takes a while) rather than simply password-protect, no?
Passwording USB drives would be nice but the ones I use have to be accessible from any computer I happen to be working on, would have to have any such software stored only on the drive and be OS-independent.
So if I use the portable drive as a MIRROR (daily or weekly backup), will I be creating additional headaches for myself by activating BitLocker on such drives? Does this mean I will need to encrypt the new data everytime something is modified? And if so, will it be done automatically?That would be correct, but it would only be a one time encryption of the existing data.
Here is another suggestion
I think you'd find your WD My Passport is also encrypting the data, although this article suggests it isn't as secure as we might hope.i think BitLocker encrypts the data (which takes a while) rather than simply password-protect, no?
My experience of Bitlocker is that once you've done the initial encryption (and that's only an issue when you've got existing data on the drive, not on a new one), performance is reasonable.
Hi there
I might be being obtuse here but if the drives are PORTABLE why in the world would you need to password protect them -- IMO after you've used them simply remove them -- no physical drive = no access !! -- Simple.
Am I missing something here -- seems people are creating a problem where none exists.
Now I CAN understand why data from say a corporate network should be protected from being copied to an external USB drive but that's another issue entirely.
Cheers
jimbo
I use Veracrypt. VeraCrypt - Home
