Author Topic: Password protect my external harddrive?  (Read 2603 times)

Cpa Cat

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Password protect my external harddrive?
« on: August 13, 2016, 02:52:45 PM »
I have an external harddrive, a WD Elements, that has no software on it to encrypt or password protect the drive.

I want to make sure that if someone swiped it and plugged it into their computer, they couldn't just access the data.

It doesn't have to be military-grade protection or anything.

What program should I use for this?

Ursus Major

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Re: Password protect my external harddrive?
« Reply #1 on: August 13, 2016, 08:43:38 PM »
I recommend VeraCrypt (https://veracrypt.codeplex.com). I'm using it myself, it is free and the encryption is what you'd call "military-grade" (which is what you'd really want in these things).

southern granny

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Re: Password protect my external harddrive?
« Reply #2 on: August 13, 2016, 09:08:06 PM »
I have an external harddrive, a WD Elements, that has no software on it to encrypt or password protect the drive.

I want to make sure that if someone swiped it and plugged it into their computer, they couldn't just access the data.

It doesn't have to be military-grade protection or anything.

What program should I use for this?


Apparently cracking normal password protection is a simple process.  A relative died recently and her computer had a password.  We wanted to access it to see if she was getting bills emailed or anything.  Another relative took the computer home, ran some kind of program and got access to everything.  Maybe you better go with the "military grade protection"

Cpa Cat

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Re: Password protect my external harddrive?
« Reply #3 on: August 14, 2016, 08:55:49 AM »
Apparently cracking normal password protection is a simple process.  A relative died recently and her computer had a password.  We wanted to access it to see if she was getting bills emailed or anything.  Another relative took the computer home, ran some kind of program and got access to everything.  Maybe you better go with the "military grade protection"

Maybe you're right! I just didn't want to pay a lot for protecting against something that is not a very big risk. I don't take this drive anywhere, so I'd be protecting against someone coming in and robbing my house and taking my drive with them.

But free is my kind of price. :)

MoonLiteNite

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Re: Password protect my external harddrive?
« Reply #4 on: August 16, 2016, 02:53:01 AM »
I 2nd the VeraCrypt or TrueCrypt

There are so many free options out there to encrypt drives.

Pretty much any legit encryption software out there will be  "military grade"
2 downsides to using them

Accessing your data will be slightly slower on an SSD, and a bit slower on a HHD.
If you ever forget your key you are screwed.

edit: Cracking passwords on these can be brute forced though, so with a normal 8 digit letters and numbers only password, a good computer could crack it in days. You will want numbers, letters symbols, upper and lower case, and do 8-14 digits long.
This site shows you how secure your passwords are.
http://random-ize.com/how-long-to-hack-pass/

« Last Edit: August 16, 2016, 02:54:45 AM by MoonLiteNite »

arebelspy

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Re: Password protect my external harddrive?
« Reply #5 on: August 21, 2016, 09:45:17 AM »
I recommend VeraCrypt (https://veracrypt.codeplex.com).

+1.

Veracrypt is the best for this.
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