How to password protect a remote hard drive. TrueCrypt - how to put a password on a folder or computer, as well as password and encrypt a flash drive

A hard drive is a popular modern device that allows you to expand your computer's memory without opening the system unit. Modern external hard drives can fit into any handbag, which means you can always have large amounts of information at hand. If you store confidential information on your hard drive, then the best way to protect it is to set a password.
A password is a universal means of protecting information, which is a key that can consist of any number of letters, numbers and symbols. If the user enters the password incorrectly, then access to the data stored on the external hard drive cannot be obtained.

How to set a password on an external hard drive?

We have already covered this on our website before. Moreover, the question of the correct one was also considered. Below we will talk about how to apply a password for this device.

Setting a password using built-in Windows tools

Setting a password in this case is used successfully both for regular USB drives and external hard drives, which have large amounts of disk space. The main advantage of this method is that you do not need to download and install third-party programs.

Connect your external hard drive to your computer, and then open Windows Explorer. Specifically, we are interested in the “This Computer” section, which displays all connected drives to the computer. Right-click on the external hard drive and in the context menu that appears, go to "Enable BitLocker" .

The utility will start launching on the screen. After a moment, a window will appear on the screen in which you will need to check the box “Use a password to unlock the disk” , and in the lines below specify the new password twice. Click the button "Further" .

Next, you will be asked to select the option of saving a special recovery key. You have three options to choose from: save to your Microsoft account, save to a file on your computer, or immediately print the key on a printer. In our opinion, the second option is the most preferable, since you can upload this file, for example, to the cloud, and at any time, if the password for the external hard drive is forgotten, open it.

The next setting item asks you to configure data encryption. You can either select to encrypt only the occupied disk space, or encrypt the entire disk.

Please note that if you choose to encrypt the entire disk, you need to be prepared for the fact that the encryption process may take many hours. Therefore, if you do not have a lot of time, and you intend to open the hard drive on modern computers, we recommend choosing the first encryption option.

The final setup step is to select an encryption mode from two available: new encryption mode and compatibility mode. Considering that we are working with an external hard drive, check the option "Compatibility Mode" , and then move on.

Actually, this completes the BitLocker setup process. To start the password process, all you have to do is click the button "Start encryption" and wait for the process to complete.

If, after encryption is complete, we open Windows Explorer in the “This PC” section, our external hard drive will be listed with a lock icon. An open icon with a lock indicates that access to the data has been obtained, and a closed icon, as shown in the screenshot below, indicates that a password is required.

Having opened the disk twice, a miniature window will appear on the screen in which the user will be asked to enter the password for the connected external hard drive.

Setting a password using archiving

Many users do not trust the data encryption process because this way you cannot access the entire drive. Therefore, we will use this method in a slightly different way - we will place the information saved on an external hard drive in an archive without compression, i.e. An external hard drive, if necessary, can be used without a password, but to access the information stored in it, you will need to enter a security key.

To set a password using archiving information, you will need almost any archiver program. In our case, we will use the popular tool WinRAR , which you can download from the link given at the end of the article.

As soon as the archiver program is installed on your computer, open the contents of the external hard drive, select it with a simple keyboard shortcut Ctrl + A, or select certain folders and files in case you need to hide not all information on the external hard drive under a password. After that, right-click on the selection and select the item in the context menu that appears "Add to archive" .

A window will appear on the screen in which you will need in the block "Compression method" select option "Without compression" , and then click the button "Set password" .

In the window that appears, you will need to enter a password of any length twice. Below, if necessary, you can activate encryption of the data contained in the archive (without activating this item, the names of folders and files will be visible, but access to them will be limited).

When the creation of the archive is completed, the root folder of the hard drive, in addition to the files, will also contain the archive you created. Now files on the disk, except the archive, can be deleted.

When you try to open the archive, a window will appear on the screen asking you to enter a password. Until the archive password is received, access to information will be limited.

What's the result?

The most effective way to store confidential information is to use the standard BitLocker tool. This is a wonderful utility, which, perhaps, cannot be found with analogs that are superior in quality. The second method, which involves using an archiver, can be considered the most preferable, since it does not restrict access to the external hard drive, but only to the information that you want to password-protect.

Of course, there are still a lot of information encryption programs, but we did not focus on them, since the two methods described in the article are the most optimal for most users.

In many cases, modern users of personal computers have a need to protect personal data - if several people have access to the computer and access to it is open, if there is an external hard drive with their data. In these cases, a good solution would be to set a password. In this article we will take a closer look at how to put a password on your hard drive.

Let's consider working in the operating systems Windows 7 Ultimate, Professional and higher.

The first thing you can use if you need to protect your data is to use the Bitlocker function built into Windows, which will reliably protect your disk. To do this you need to follow a few simple steps:

• Go to the Control Panel and find the “Bitlocker disk encryption” button there.
• In the window that appears, opposite the icon of the disk that we want to protect, click the “enable Bitlocker” button.
• In the next window, carefully select the methods for removing the password. The simplest one is the first one – “Using a password to unlock the disk”.
• You need to choose the option of saving a special recovery key, which will need to be used if the password is suddenly lost. Perhaps the optimal solution would be to “Save the password to a file” and store the recovery key, for example, in your cloud.
• If you have Windows 8 or higher operating system installed, there will be a few more options to choose from: “Specify the part of the disk to be encrypted” and “Select the encryption mode to use.”

Encryption of the disk will begin and after it has finished, access to the disk will only be possible after entering the password you specified. An image of a lock will appear on the image of the encrypted disk in Explorer.

When using the Bitlocker function, you need to be extremely careful, since if you lose your password and recovery key, you will be able to work with this disk only after it is completely formatted, during which, accordingly, all data will be deleted. It is also necessary to remember that when reinstalling Operating Systems, if you did not decrypt the disk before starting the reinstallation or did not copy the certificate to a replacement hard drive in advance, you will no longer be able to access your data!

Protect your drive using third party apps

In addition to the Bitlocker function, which actually encrypts the data on the disk, there are third-party applications that can both encrypt your disk and lock the disk without actual encryption, but using a password protection function.

You can use programs such as Disk Password Protection, Lockngo or Folder Lock.

With the help of various programs and utilities, access to the disk or part of the data is completely blocked for third-party users. The main thing is that when choosing and using such programs, be careful about saving your passwords and study all the possible options offered for unlocking the disk and data, so as not to lose access to them yourself.

Protecting your disk using an archiver

It is also possible to close your data using any archiver that can archive not only part of the data, but also the entire hard drive. For example, WinRar will do this task perfectly. To do this, in the Explorer menu, right-click on the icon of the selected drive, then in the drop-down menu, find the “Add to archive” item.

Before starting archiving, click on the “Set password” button and enter the password in the new window. Then start archiving. After the data is stored in a password-protected archive, the original files can be deleted, and then all new data can be added to the archive under a password. But you need to take into account that when closing the data in this way, the lists of files and folders remain visible, as they are shown in the archiver window before entering the password.

What is the result? If a hard drive with personal data really needs to be protected from prying eyes, then it is most reliable to use the built-in Bitlocker encryption system. And once again, when working with passwords and encryption, you need to be extremely careful, since there is a possibility of losing all your own data. Don't lose your passwords!

In this article I will tell you how to put a password on a hard drive or flash drive. In this instruction we will not use any third-party programs; everything will be done using the built-in Windows tools. And this circumstance gives us hope about the reliability of the method.

How to put a password on a hard drive/flash drive using BitLocker

Bitlocker is a utility that is included with Windows 7 and older. With its help you can protect hard drive partitions or flash drives. If you set a password using the described method, you will not be able to access the data on the media, even if it is removed from the computer and moved to another one. That is, even outside your system, your information will be protected if, of course, you have a strong password.

Bitlocker protects information on your hard drive/flash drive and sets a password to access it. The data will remain protected even if the device is connected to another computer.

To set a password on your hard drive/flash drive, do the following:

• Right-click on the hard drive/flash drive partition and go to the “Enable Bitlocker” line.

Check the “Use password to unlock” checkbox. Write your password below and repeat it. Create a strong password and don't forget it. After that, click the “Next” button.

If you check the “Automatically unlock this computer” checkbox, you won’t have to enter a password to view your hard drive partitions. The password will only be needed when installing the media into another computer. This means that if you want to protect your data from prying eyes that live in your home, then you DO NOT need to check the box there. If you don't have such eyes at home, but you are afraid that someone might take out your hard drive and read it somewhere else, then check this box. However, to do this, first of all, you need to protect the partition on which Windows is installed using BitLocker.

• The next step is saving data to recover your password if you suddenly forget it. I recommend not skipping this stage, as you are taking a risk in this case. Before you put a password on your hard drive, figure out how you will store the data to recover it. They can be printed, saved to a file on a computer or on a flash drive. Select what you need and click “Next”.

It would be stupid to store a password recovery file on the same computer. Therefore, it is better to write it to a USB flash drive or save it on another computer. Protect this file from unauthorized access and loss.

• Click the “Start Encryption” button and wait until the process completes. If the disk is large in volume, then this may take a long time. At the end, the disk icon will take on the appearance of a padlock.

Now you know how to put a password on your hard drive. Try opening the encrypted partition to make sure everything works as it should.

Sometimes many users are interested in the question - how can you put a password on your hard drive? This is primarily of interest to more professional users who want to protect their computer from unauthorized persons. Recently, this issue has also become relevant for ordinary users who are very worried about their system, the information on it and are trying to protect it by any means. Basically, a hard drive password is designed to prevent scammers or other users from taking over your system and running your hard drive, as well as obtaining information from it and using it for their own purposes. There are quite a few ways and options for setting a password on a hard drive, but the most relevant and most popular is setting a password on a hard drive using BIOS.

First you need to define what a BIOS is.
BIOS is specialized software that is located on absolutely any computer in a constant working state.

This software tests the device, updates the system, and searches for downloads. BIOS is a very broad purpose for a PC and a popular program. This software contains a large number of the most current and necessary firmware that allow you to configure the entire system unit, create an operating system boot and improve important parameters of your personal computer. Therefore, it is advisable for any user to understand this software, at least at the amateur level, and to know the small settings, as well as the ability to set and reset passwords.

Hard drive password using BIOS

When setting a password on the hard drive, more professional users use the BIOS. This allows you to protect your system as much as possible, get the best results, and disable the password at any time. This procedure can be performed on absolutely any computer, including a laptop, netbook and other devices. If suddenly you somehow forgot the password for your hard drive, then you will not be able to boot the operating system and this will crash your computer, but in any situation, thanks to the BIOS, any password from the hard drive can be removed.
How to set a password on a hard drive via Bios?
To do this you need:

The BIOS itself will appear in front of the user. Now the user needs to understand a little about the functions and tabs of the BIOS.

To control the BIOS, you need to use the forward, backward, left and right arrow buttons.

The BIOS has the following tabs:

The user will need exactly the Security tab, where he can see the password settings on Bios and on the hard drive

It is in this tab that you can set a password on your hard drive and save the data when you exit. After that, a password will appear on your computer on your hard drive, which will need to be entered whenever you log in and load Windows.

Conclusion

A hard drive password is an essential security measure for people who are concerned about their information and want to hide data from strangers. It is best to set such a password through Bios; this gives users advantages in data protection, and also creates the opportunity to recover the password or disable it completely. Remember that protecting your data and your computer is the right and timely decision.

And install it. Launch the program. In the main window, click on the required hard drive on which you want to set a password. Right-click on the name of the hard drive and select “Install boot protection.”

Create a password that you want to use. Below you will see a scale showing the security code quality scale. To make the password more complex, it is best to use numbers and symbols.

Repeat the input and, if necessary, enter a hint for it (if you are afraid of forgetting). To add a hint, click on the blue “Password Hint” line.

The good thing about the program is that it can be used to additionally use the hidden protection mode.

After all the manipulations have been made, click OK to save them.

TrueCrypt

Download and install the free program. You launch it. In the main "Volumes" menu, click "Create New Volume".

A data encryption wizard will appear on your screen. Click “Encrypt the system partition or entire system drive” to set a password on the hard drive with the operating system. Click “Next”.

Specify the encryption type. It can be ordinary or hidden. It is best to use the usual option - “Standard TrueCrypt volume”. Click on “Next”.

In the next window, choose whether to encrypt the entire disk or just the system partition. Click “Next”. To set a password for the entire hard drive, click “Encrypt the whole drive.”

Then you will need to indicate the number of operating systems that are installed on the HDD. If there is only one operating system on the computer, then click on “Single-boot”, and then “Next”.

A list will appear in which you must select an encryption algorithm. Ideally, you should use "AES" along with "RIPMED-160" hashing, but you can choose any of the proposed ones. Click on “Next”.

Create a password and confirm it in the required field. It is better that it consists of numbers, letters, symbols. Length must not exceed 64 characters.

After the system receives all the necessary information, the key will be generated. The hard drive password creation is complete.

Turn off your PC and turn it on again. When the black and white boot screen appears, click on the button to go to the BIOS. The button will differ depending on the motherboard model. After the main BIOS window appears, go to the “Security” tab (use the arrow keys on your keyboard).