Posted: 9/24/2011 6:14:19 AM EDT
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I was thinking about encrypting my laptops and using Window 7 and the installed (Ultimate or Pro), as it would make sense most of the issues would be minimal.
Has anyone here done this? Is it worth it? Any necessary precautions? Issues? What is the impact on overall speed/throughput? Thanks. |
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i have this setup on my dell d630 running 7 64 bit.
I set it to encrypt overnight so i am not sure how long it actually took to encrypt. Its in no way similar to PGP in my experience. PGP asks for a password on startup so it does not boot into windows directly. Windows boots to the login screen then waits for your password. as far as i am concerned PGP is superior if you are willing to spend the money. you are required to create a bitlocker key to a thumb drive OR maybe a cdrom. I did the thumb drive, just make for darn sure you keep it. to decrypt the drive i belive you have to type all the characters on the thumbdrive, which can take some time. if you have question, want screen shots, let me know and i will do my best to answer them. |
| Without plausible deniability it means nothing. What you're looking for is http://www.truecrypt.org/. |
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FYI Truecrypt is not issue free. I have a HDD that's focked, won't mount after being entirely encrypted. Make sure to have a backup of your backup (I know, preaching to the choir right?).
I get an error when I try to mount it, somethign about the end of the file has been reached. This is of course much different than having a hidden volume so why am I even mentioning it. 
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I have had similar problems with the encryption my IT dept uses at work... SecureDoc I believe it's called. Thanks for the heads up on truecrypt, I am wary of most disk encryption as I have lost several work HDDs due to disk failures and unrecoverable data. Still, without plausible deniability, your encryption is only as strong as your ability to keep your password secure. And seeing as somebody holding a gun to your head is 1000 times more effective than any password cracker I have ever seen, if I am going to encrypt, it will be with an encryption scheme that allows for PD.  |
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Quoted:
Without plausible deniability it means nothing. What you're looking for is http://www.truecrypt.org/. THIS!!! Free, great, has encryption techniques approved by DOD |
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Bitlocker is used by many corporations due to it having a backdoor to allow decrypting your info. It also has a nasty habit of corrupting hard drives. My workstation crashed due to problems with Bitlocker and the drives had to be sent in for data recovery to OnTrack. IT provided OnTrack with a master decryption key (my password was not required) and all the data was decrypted and put on a portable hard drive.
The data recovery company, OnTrack, uses Truecrypt to encrypt the portable hard drives it sends out with recovered data. |