Protecting external disks, USB, etc with a PASSWORD, not an Encryption

Not asking for 'encryption' as it can takes forever on a GIGABYTE disk, let alone a TERABYTE disk to encrypt.
My HD's are not 'securable' where I am. But most want to talk about BitLocker but it I think it is an encrypted AND does not come with HOME. .

I have couple of 5/6 TB disks. ANYONE know of a reasonably priced software that can PW protect an existing, full, HD, Flash, USB, or SSD with just a PW to "lock" it? I prefer a ONE TIME subscription so don't have to keep remembering to pay a yearly renewal.
Windows 10 HOME, latest version.

I think all software that protects the HD are based on encryption.

Many years ago there were some locked at the Disk level. I think they did at the "directory level" or something level.
I recently read one can LOCK an existing LARGE HD as Encryption surely involves "moving, then encrypting the data, on the individual file level, then re-writing it to an encrypted area or files encrypted, then writing" When dealing with Terabytes, that would take a HUGE processor for 5 or 6 Terabytes of data.

ANYONE?

Perhaps someone will have a better solution. One that you won't like at all would probably mean replacing your drives. If your drives are SED (Self Encrypting Drives) the data is already encrypted with an internal key that operates transparently--you just aren't aware of it. The problem is that SED encryption only gives you the protection you want if you do some research and figure out how to set them up with a password. I doubt you have SED drives though.

Ditch Windows 10"HOME." Bitlocker doesn't take that long. Sooner or later something else ridiculous will happen to you and everyone else who has the home edition. When folks budget for a computer, IMO, they should budget for one with Pro. I've learned my lesson about "HOME" quite a while back.

Thanks, good advise.