Alternatives To Encryption Re: Prying Eyes

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  1. Posts : 6,789
    22H2 64 Bit Pro
       #31

    Probably it's down to the portable drives that I was testing on.Anyway just for hiding drives/ folders or files without encryption.

    This one was probably easiest to use

    Wise Folder Hider - No.1 Freeware to Hide Folders or Files

    It still takes a while to hide/ unhide an entire drive. (USB)
    Last edited by Callender; 24 Apr 2021 at 11:38. Reason: layout
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  2. Posts : 1,680
    X
       #32

    Do you often forget your laptop, leaving it on at the gate in the airport?
    Do you live in a dorm room where there's no assurance that a neighbor won't steal from you?
    Do you live a ghetto where crime is rampant?
    Are you wanted by the FBI?
    Do you possess secrets that the Russians badly want?

    If not ... I'd say your fears are overblown. Spend your money on something better.
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  3. Posts : 617
    windows 10 pro
    Thread Starter
       #33

    Callender said:
    Well I've been testing lots of Drive/ Folder/ File hiders some with encyption and some without encryption. None of them are fast. I'd say partition your external drives into smaller chunks (with a drive letter for each chunk) and use your encryption software to encrypt/ decrypt one or more of those chunks at a time rather than decrypting the whole drive in one go.
    >I'd say partition your external drives into smaller chunks (with a drive letter for each chunk) and use your encryption software to encrypt/ decrypt one or more of those chunks at a time rather than decrypting the whole drive in one go.

    Yeah, that occurred to me as well though I was hoping to avoid that if only because it was messier and not the cleanest of operations I was hoping for. Until I investigate BitLocker and the other folder applications I'm going to put that one in my pocket for the time being. Thanks

    - - - Updated - - -

    hsehestedt said:
    In my testing, and I will say that your mileage may vary, encryption isn't slowing me down at all. For example, to my NVMe without encryption I get over 4000MB per second. With encryption I still get the same thing. I guess the encryption happens even faster than the disk can write data. If I'm not mistaken, it's done in hardware on the CPU with current gen systems.
    >For example, to my NVMe without encryption I get over 4000MB per second.

    My post has never been about internal or even external NVMe drives but rather external USB 12 and 14 TB drives.
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  4. Posts : 5,899
    Win 11 Pro (x64) 22H2
       #34

    BitLocker will impose a performance hit on a drive, but (in my experience) it's not noticeable in real world use; It is noticeable in benchmark tests.

    And yes, I use (currently using) BitLocker on my Samsung NVMe OS drive.

    Anyway, pretty much any external portable drive will have some type of security software where you can lock a drive. Both my Western Digital "My Book" external drives as well as my Samsung T5 drive has a feature where you can lock the drives.
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  5. Posts : 617
    windows 10 pro
    Thread Starter
       #35

    sygnus21 said:
    BitLocker will impose a performance hit on a drive, but (in my experience) it's not noticeable in real world use; It is noticeable in benchmark tests.

    And yes, I use (currently using) BitLocker on my Samsung NVMe OS drive.

    Anyway, pretty much any external portable drive will have some type of security software where you can lock a drive. Both my Western Digital "My Book" external drives as well as my Samsung T5 drive has a feature where you can lock the drives.
    >Anyway, pretty much any external portable drive will have some type of security software

    Right, I included info in my post aboutWD Security but I am unfamiliar with it and don't know if it is any better then the options I ticked off.

    - - - Updated - - -

    sygnus21 said:
    BitLocker will impose a performance hit on a drive, but (in my experience) it's not noticeable in real world use; It is noticeable in benchmark tests.

    And yes, I use (currently using) BitLocker on my Samsung NVMe OS drive.

    Anyway, pretty much any external portable drive will have some type of security software where you can lock a drive. Both my Western Digital "My Book" external drives as well as my Samsung T5 drive has a feature where you can lock the drives.
    >Both my Western Digital "My Book" external drives...

    Do you recall the name of the Western Digital software that "locks" external USB drives and is it a current and up to date application? And by locking you do not just mean password protecting the drive do you? TIA.
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  6. Posts : 5,899
    Win 11 Pro (x64) 22H2
       #36

    My question is do you need a sledge hammer to or a small mallet? Depending on who you fear the prying eyes are will depend on the tool needed.

    To use the analogy.... locks are there to keep honest people honest. The hardcore thief is going to find a way in no matter the lock (or encryption method). For my situation as explained in my previous post, I'm using the tools that keep honest people honest. I'm not in a situation where I need something more hardcore.

    And since I can't account for every "what if" in the universe, I simply keep it simple and keep it moving.

    My two cents.

    phaedruspress said:
    Do you recall the name of the Western Digital software that "locks" external USB drives and is it a current and up to date application? And by locking you do not just mean password protecting the drive do you? TIA.
    WD Drive Unlock. And as far as I know it is updated. Yes... password protecting the drive.

    Anyway, whatever drive you get if it has the software just follow the instruction for setting things up.
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  7. Posts : 617
    windows 10 pro
    Thread Starter
       #37

    sygnus21 said:
    My question is do you need a sledge hammer to or a small mallet? Depending on who you fear the prying eyes are will depend on the tool needed.

    To use the analogy.... locks are there to keep honest people honest. The hardcore thief is going to find a way in no matter the lock (or encryption method). For my situation as explained in my previous post, I'm using the tools that keep honest people honest. I'm not in a situation where I need something more hardcore.

    And since I can't account for every "what if" in the universe, I simply keep it simple and keep it moving.

    My two cents.



    WD Drive Unlock. And as far as I know it is updated. Yes... password protecting the drive.

    Anyway, whatever drive you get if it has the software just follow the instruction for setting things up.
    >WD Drive Unlock. And as far as I know it is updated

    Unfortunately if this post from 2014 is to be believed WD Drive Unlock is outdated and was replaced with WD Smartware and support for that ended in 2018. I believe the software I referenced is currently the most up to date WD security software though I have at this point no idea what it does. When I performed an extended test on the drives looking for bad blocks I just formatted whatever was on there.
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  8. Posts : 5,899
    Win 11 Pro (x64) 22H2
       #38

    phaedruspress said:
    >WD Drive Unlock. And as far as I know it is updated

    Unfortunately if this post from 2014 is to be believed WD Drive Unlock is outdated and was replaced with WD Smartware and support for that ended in 2018.
    Yes, WD Drive Unlock, along with Smartware might be outdated now... but on my 2010 and 2014 My Book, it still works. I'm fairly sure if you bought a more recent WD My Book, it'd have something more up to date that would work (for the drive at hand). If you're looking to use the WD Unlock software on a different drive that's not going to work as the software is only designed for their intended external drives.

    Anyway, there are other options around you just need to decide what you want to do - encrypt a drive, lock a drive, or encrypt/lock a folder(s).

    Good luck.
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  9. Posts : 165
    Win10 Pro
       #39

    True Crypt is my preferred tool for encryption.
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  10. Posts : 4,173
    Windows 11 Pro, 22H2
       #40

    I would strongly advise against TrueCrypt. The first words on their web site:

    "WARNING: Using TrueCrypt is not secure as it may contain unfixed security issues"

    It was discontinued years ago.
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