How To Password Protect External Hard Drive Windows 10

Password Protect External Hard Drive

According to our knowledge, in that location are two viable options for password-protecting your external difficult disk on Windows.

Safeguarding your external hard drive is a smart do, much like safeguarding your calculator or phone with a Pin, login, or biometric security. This is especially true if the external difficult disk contains sensitive or individual data.

Is in that location a method to countersign-protect an external hard disk drive to prevent unauthorized people from accessing it? Yes, there are, in fact, two ways y'all tin Password Protect External Hard Drive on Windows. Therefore, this article will explain to yous how to apply Windows ten/xi to Password Protect External Hard Bulldoze. Permit's see the two techniques bachelor.

METHOD i: Y'all Can Countersign PROTECT AN EXTERNAL Hard DRIVE USING BITLOCKER

To password protect an external hard drive on a Windows 10 PC, follow these steps. In this tutorial, you should choose your encryption mechanism, which would be BitLocker. And y'all must select an encryption method, constitute a backup recovery key, and so create a strong countersign.

From beginning to stop, it's an effortless procedure. Simply connect the external storage to the pc, and nosotros'll start installing BitLocker. Please remember that BitLocker isn't accessible in Windows 10 Home edition, and so you'll need to update to the Professional, Instruction, or Enterprise edition to become through information technology.

If you take ane of the aforementioned Windows OS, yous tin can use Windows BitLocker to encrypt external difficult drives by following the procedures below securely.

Every bit a start step, yous should connect your external hd to your computer.
Navigate to This PC, locate the external drive that you lot simply attached, right-click there, and choose Plow on BitLocker once more from the context carte bar.
Click the selection " Use a password to unlock the drive" to password encrypt the external difficult disk. Now blazon, then retype your password, and after that, click on the "Side by side" button to proceed.
Make a backup of the said recovery central. So you tin can save the key onto your Microsoft account, in a Flash drive, or a local folder on your figurer.
Select how much more of your disk you desire to encrypt, every bit well as which encryption pick you want to use.
Finally, to encrypt your device, click on the "First Encrypting" option.

As you lot tin can run across, using Windows BitLocker for countersign-protecting an external hard drive is simple. If you lot would not want to utilize BitLocker, there are withal some other options to countersign protect an external difficult bulldoze.

Make sure that the external hard deejay is not removed from the pc before pausing the operation offset. It is possible that the drive will be damaged every bit a result of this. Until the whole process is done, files actually aren't protected. Prior to actually ejecting the drive, users must wait again for a Complete Encryption notice.

METHOD 2: PASSWORD PROTECT EXTERNAL Hard DRIVE USING VERACRYPT

There are as well several trustworthy third-party external drive encryption tools available.

These third-political party encryption tools, such as VeraCrypt, TrueCrypt, and AxCrypt, can encrypt the entire bulldoze. So when y'all're willing, you lot can become started right now past downloading an encryption tool to your computer and encrypting your whole external hard disk drive.

Some third-party encryption systems don't really supply a "recovery fundamental."As a result, yous should either manually backup the password or create a password that y'all will definitely remember.

If you're a Windows user, password-protecting an external hard drive with BitLocker is a good thought. When you're using a Mac or Linux, and then you can use a third-party external drive encryption application, which is every bit useful.

VeraCrypt is a countersign-protected virtual hard disk drive image that may exist used to protect sensitive documents. Information technology'due south a viable substitute for BitLocker. It is likewise free, open-source software that encrypts real-time data and runs on Windows, Mac OS, as well every bit Linux. We'll utilize VeraCrypt to countersign protect an external hard drive on Windows 10 in this guide.

Go to the VeraCrypt Configuration website and from at that place download it. It is around 34.5Mb. Whenever the installation sorcerer appears, click Adjacent to continue.
Open up VeraCrypt, and you'll take a list of potential unused drive letters. Next, another secured virtual disk paradigm must be created. After clicking "Create Book", you may start the procedure.
Inside the new box, click Next and and so go ahead past selecting "Encrypt a non-system partition/bulldoze"
You'll be able to pick betwixt two sorts of encrypted volumes. One is Standard, and another is Subconscious. Press Next afterward selecting "Standard VeraCrypt book."
Cull to employ a proper name as well as a location over again for virtual deejay paradigm either on a local or external hard drive by clicking "Select File." Then click on Side by side to get ahead.
In the post-obit box, exit the default AES & SHA-512 options alone, equally they are commonly sufficient for most tasks. Become alee past clicking Adjacent.
Brand sure your volume is big enough to arrange your important information. Afterward that, select a suitable data storage volume, and then click Next.
In the next few stages, we'll mount its virtual deejay image. It will necessitate the use of a countersign. Inside the dialogue boxes that appear, type a safe volume password and afterwards click Side by side.
Cull NTFS every bit the file system if you accept files bigger than 4GB. Fat should suffice for anything less. To assistance generate encryption keys, drag your mouse cursor virtually at random. Then, when the green meter reaches its end, select Format.
To complete the task, click Exit when the book has indeed been successfully established.
Utilizing File Explorer, you may examine the deejay file format.
And so, yous'll need to open VeraCrypt to select some other of those vacant drive letters and mount the virtual disk image. One time you've located your virtual disk image, click "Select File," only and so just Mount.]
Click OK afterwards entering the password created for such book.
Your secured virtual disk image volition now appear similar a new drive. Users can so move all of their important data to that disk to keep them condom.
Whenever the VeraCrypt volume is no longer in utilize, ensure to unmount it. You may practice that by opening VeraCrypt and choosing the mounted drive'southward drive alphabetic character, then clicking Dismount.