Encrypted folder for external drives

My windows 10 version is Home, 20H2, 64 bit. Build 19042.685

I require an encrypted folder on my external seagate hard drive of 1.5TB. I want to have an encrypted partition of 80-90 GB on it. I experimented with veracrypt on my 8GB sandisk USB flash drive just to understand the workflow. The drive became unresponsive while the partition was being created (which is probably expected). I tested a transfer of 1.5 GB mp4 video file and it transferred fine.

If I create a new partition on my portable drive, will the file transfer and copy from and to my laptop be slower due the partition being encrypted? Moreover, do I risk my entire external hard disk and files on it being damaged while the partition is being created or removed later on when I no longer require it?

I have not really used Veracrypt itself so I can't speak to Veracrypt specifics, but in general, you shouldn't see a slowdown. The main bottleneck is typically the write speed of the drive itself. Pretty much any modern computer will encrypt the data faster than the drive can write the data.

When you reference partitions being created or removed, if you are talking true partitions on your drive, then no, manipulating one partition whether it is encrypted or not should not effect other partitions on the drive at all.

Something to consider: There may be specific reasons that you prefer Veracrypt, but have you also considered simply using BitLocker? One of the things that I like about BitLocker is that I need no third party software. I can take a disk that has one or more BitLocker encrypted partitions to any Windows machine and use it without the need for any additional software on those systems.

The reason I'm unable to use Bitlocker is that it is only available on Windows 10 home. I'm running Windows 10 home. I can keep veracrypt software installer exe file on the external hard drive itself in order to use it on the machine where I'm using the drive.

Ah, yes, good point.