Today i would like to talk about encryptionsoftware for harddrives.
Hello people.
I am writing this, because personally i think its very important to encrypt your harddrive, espacially if its an external storage.
Just think, what could happen, if you would loose your laptop or your external harddrive.
All your private things like photos, videos, documents and everything else would be easy accessible.
I will show you in later posts tutorials to encrypt your harddrive, but at first informations about the most common encryptions:
(For english speaking persons: Sorry pictures are in german)
Bitlocker
Bitlocker is the official encryption in Windows made from Microsoft.
Pros:
-Its easy to use, just click enable Bitlocker
-Its free... if you dont count the costs for
Windows itself
-It works on every Windows PC
-You can restore it with a recoverykey, if the encryption is damaged or your forgot your password
-Its easy to rollout in a whole company
-It can be used as hardware- and softwareencryption
Cons:
-It works on Windows... only Windows(There are
tools to open it under Linux and Mas OS, but they nearly never work
-Its developed from a company and the source code is not freely aviable, so it cant be checked, if there are backdoors... so you have to trust Microsoft
-Sometimes it wants the recoverykey just for no reason... which means typing in 48 characters
-Encryption takes times, if the harddrive is already containing data
Veracrypt
Veracrypt is an opensource encryption programm, which is based on the famous truecrypt.(Its even better)
Pros:
-Opensource, so no backdoors
-New versions are released, not like truecrypt
-You can create containers, Fulldiskencryption or even hidden containers.
-It can be used on Windows, Linux and Mac OS
-Can be recovered with a bootcd or keyfile, if the encryption is damaged
-You can choose the type of the algorhitm, so if an algorhitm is cracked you can choose another one
Cons:
-a little bit complicated for unexpierenced people
-Takes a while to encrypt a drive with data on it
WD Security
WD Security is an encryption made by Western Digital for their external HDD's.
Pros:
-Very easy to use
-Encrypts very fast, even with data on it(Just a few seconds, instead of hours)
-Can be used on Windows and Mac OS(Should be working on Linux with Wine)
-A very low chance, that the encryption will damage, as everything is saved in the service area of the harddrive.
(The service area of a harddrive is a special place on the platters, which contains the "Operatingsystem" of the harddrive)
Cons:
-Can be used only on external WD drives
-Can be decrypted without key with special data recovery equipment)
-Its not open source
So you see every software for encryption has it pros and cons. There isnt a perfect software, which fits all needs. (The closest one would be Veracrypt, if the usage would be easier)
There are a lot of other tools which you could use, but in common they have the same advantages and disadvantages like the above one.(closed source, not compatible with all operatingsystems, ...)
If you ask me i would recommend:
Veracrypt: For Maximum security
Why: Its opensource and at the time of writing unbreakable.
WD Security: For External harddrives(except you are awaiting a problem with law.)
Why: Its easy to use and works on all OS(and uses my favourite harddrives. ;) )
Bitlocker: For companys
Why: Easy to rollout for a lot of PC's and central storage of recovery keys.
I hope you enjoyed this post and i would be happy for suggestion, questions, upvotes and sharing.