No option to select to encrypt Entire drive


  1. Posts : 812
    Win10
       #1

    No option to select to encrypt Entire drive


    I got a brand new laptop and when did a clean install of Windows 10 v1903 BitLocker did not ask to select the option to encrypt used or entire drive.
    It automatically encrypts only the Used Space only.

    The laptop came with a Samsung NVMe SSD drive if that matters.

    Why does BitLocker encryption defaults to encrypting Used Space only?

    Does it have to do anything with the type of SSD drive or the newest version of Windows 10?
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 9,790
    Mac OS Catalina
       #2

    Changes is why. It speeds up the process for how Bitlocker works and that empty space can still contain data that was in temp space, pagefile, hibernate, sleep, etc.. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/win...iew-windows-10
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 14,019
    Win10 Pro and Home, Win11 Pro and Home, Win7, Linux Mint
       #3

    Also, empty space is that where files are deleted [but not really] and that space is marked as available for storing other data when needed, goes back to DOS days where only the first letter of a file name is deleted. Using other means of undeleting can usually get those files back.
      My Computers


  4. Posts : 289
    Windows 10 Pro 21H2
       #4

    Are you using the option to use a password to unlock the drive (require additional authentication at startup)?
      My Computers


  5. Posts : 812
    Win10
    Thread Starter
       #5

    It’s my internal SSD drive.

    Yes, TPM and PIN. But before I always had an option to choose encrypt entire drive on my older laptop.

    My old laptop was using TPM 1.2.

    Now, I am using TPM 2.0 and maybe this new version of the TPM automatically encrypts Used Space only by default without the option for users to choose Entire drive encryption.

    That’s just a theory only.

    There is a Group Policy to set encryption mode to use Full drive only and see what happens.
      My Computer


 

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