How to Encrypt a Portable Hard Drive

Portable hard drives are becoming ubiquitous. People use them to store media, transport files, and even run live versions of operating systems from them. A portable hard drive is an insecure medium, however, and can be stolen. If you carry a portable hard drive with sensitive data on it, you can encrypt it for increased security. There are many available applications that can encrypt your portable hard drive, some commercial and others free. You should make sure that an application provides enough portability for you before using it to encrypt your drive.

Instructions

TrueCrypt

1. Download and install TrueCrypt on your home machine or on a computer you know is secure. You can verify your download using the PGP Signature provided on TrueCrypt's website, if you are concerned about security.

2. Plug in your portable hard drive and launch TrueCrypt from your "Programs" menu. Click "Create Volume" to launch the TrueCrypt Volume Creation Wizard. Select the "Encrypt a non-system partition/drive" button and click "Next."

3. Choose "Standard TrueCrypt" volume from the next dialogue box and click "Next." Select the location of the drive you wish to encrypt and click "Next" again. Select "Create encrypted volume and format it" and click "Next."

4. Choose your encryption algorithm from the following list and click "Next" through the next two dialogue boxes. Enter a password to encrypt the volume with and click "Next" again. Choose whether you will use large files on the encrypted volume and click "Next" to continue.

5. Select your volume formatting options. The defaults are usually fine unless you are looking to do something specific with your portable hard drive. Click "Format" to begin the formatting process. Click "Exit" once the encrypted volume has been created.

6. Select any of the virtual mount points from TrueCrypt's main screen and click "Mount." Select your portable hard drive and click "Mount." Type your chosen passphrase and press "Enter" to mount your encrypted volume.

PGP Whole Disk Encryption

1. Download, install and launch PGP Whole Disk Encryption from your "Programs" menu.

2. Click "Encrypt Whole Disk" from the PGP "Whole Disk Encryption" main dialogue.

3. Select the drive letter or your portable hard drive from the list of options. Select "Maximum CPU Usage" to encrypt your disk as fast as possible, using your computer's entire processing ability.

4. Click "Add User Key" to add your key to the list of private keys that will be able to access the hard disk. Click "New Passphrase User" if you want to add an additional user who can access the hard disk with a passphrase.

5. Click "Encrypt" to begin the encryption process. If running from a laptop, make sure that you plug in the laptop with its power cord, otherwise your data may be lost.

Folder Lock

1. Download, install and launch Folder Lock from your "Programs" menu. Click the "New" tab once the program has loaded.

2. Click the "Browse" button and select your portable hard drive from the list of devices.

3. Type in a password for the new, encrypted locker of the portable hard drive. Click "OK" or press "Enter."

4. Click the "Add files & folders" button to add data to the encrypted locker on the portable hard drive. Click "Encrypt Now" once you are finished.

References

• TrueCrypt: Docs
• PGP Whole Disk Encryption PDF Guide
• Folder Lock: How to Password Protect USB Drive
• Maximum PC: How To Encrypt Your Entire Hard Drive The Easy Way Using TrueCrypt