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Thread ID: 140575 2015-11-05 07:08:00 External HDD password protect bk T (215) Press F1
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1410995 2015-11-05 07:08:00 How do I password protect my external HDD? Any free program to recommend?

Cheers
bk T (215)
1410996 2015-11-05 19:57:00 "Password protect" would imply some form of encryption.
Are you just going to be using it on your own PC, for like backups or similar?
Chilling_Silence (9)
1410997 2015-11-05 20:11:00 If you have a pro version of windows you can use bitlocker www.tomsguide.com

I'm sure there are other options, never felt the need to password protect any of my stuff personally so I haven't looked into it.
You can use windows ownership to set who has access to files but that's easily over ridden by anyone with admin rights.

Cheap and nasty version to stop casual prying eyes - create a password protected Zip file and put stuff in there. If you want to hide file names put then in a folder first and Zip that.
Has the advantage that you can easily move it around with the password intact and is secure enough to stop most people. Not as convenient as other options perhaps.
dugimodo (138)
1410998 2015-11-05 21:32:00 I have an external HDD, (I bought my own enclosure and HDD, not the branded one) and it has quite a fair bit of important data stored in it. I used to carried it around, and would like to password protect it just in case I lose it, others won't be able to access the data in it.

Just thought of this 'cause a friend of mine has just lost his. He is so worried that his important document may end up in the wrong hands as it's not password protected.

I just want something that can protect the HDD from unauthorised access. I think those branded ones like WD and Seagate external hdds are bundled with the software.
bk T (215)
1410999 2015-11-05 21:58:00 Trucrypt should still be OK for what you want, or something similar
www.howtogeek.com

keep in mind, encryption would make it VERY hard to do any sort of data recovery , so make sure its not the only copy of data on that drive .
1101 (13337)
1411000 2015-11-05 22:17:00 Looks like Windows built-in BitLocker will do the trick.

If I enabled Win BitLocker and put in a password to protect the drive, and, if I were to plug in this drive into another machine, I would assume that I can access my drive by using the same password.

Will it work with USB flash drive?

Has anyone here used BitLocker?
bk T (215)
1411001 2015-11-05 23:47:00 Looks like the hdd MUST be formatted in NTFS for it to work too. And you should also have a TPM module installed (either built in, if this is a laptop) or separate (if it's a desktop)

Otherwise, you'll need a flash drive
Speedy Gonzales (78)
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