Whats best software to encrypt folders or entire hard drives ?

im thinking to encrypt a few folders on a number of external hard drives i own i wont need to encrypt everything eg on a 4tb external hard drive id maybe want to encrypt 20% 

so what software do you recommend ? as much info as possible please. And as USA made products are likely built with backdoors in them now im open to products from other nations. Encryption is pointless if it has backdoors in it eg anything Microsoft etc 

thanks 

I will assume you're running Windows so I'd recommend the usual: Veracrypt

You can't really use it to encrypt folders, but you can use ti to make encrypted containers - these are files that contain encrypted content. You can mount them like you would any usual drive and they appear in explorer under a given drive letter i.e. G:\ then copy anything of value inside and it gets encrypted transparently. These containers can be set to grow dynamically, so there's no fear of running out of space unless the disk also runs out of space. Veracrypt can also encrypt entire drives as well as the system partition you are running your operating system on.

Its code has been audited. While some bugs have been found they have already been patched. One thing to note is that there are no known backdoors in this program which can be a good or a bad thing, depending on how you view the situation. On the good side it means that the system is secure and the encrypted contents will be safe from the prying hands (assuming you won't get rubber-hosed). The bad side is that should you forget the passphrase to the container or device then the contents are gone forever.

Vec

Encryption is pointless if it has backdoors in it eg anything Microsoft etc

How so?

Traffic is encrypted, so one would need a decrypt key to read it.

I am using Kryptel, mostly for weekly backups (every backup ~14Gb large). And for encrypting this and that too, especially in trips. They have released it to open source lately, that's speaking about backdoors.

In my opinion, VeraCrypt is an excellent encrypting software - I have been using it for several years. It is free, and has a superb documentation. And, for those who worry about such things - there are no backdoors.

Edited by genetics73, 04 February 2018 - 05:29 PM.

What OS are you running? if it is Windows 10 with MBR instead of UEFI or older then you can use Trucrypt (downloaded from here https://www.truecrypt71a.com/downloads/) if it is Windows 8 or newer with UEFI then Veracrypt is the go to option ( is a spin off of Trucrypt)

Some of the best software to encrypt data are VeraCrypt, AxCrypt, Bitlocker, GNU Privacy Guard and 7-Zip.

 

Encryption is pointless if it has backdoors in it eg anything Microsoft etc

 

How so?

Traffic is encrypted, so one would need a decrypt key to read it.

 

If the encryption software has a backdoor, that can be used to decrypt without knowing the decryption key

Has VeraCrypt released support for full drive encryption of UEFI systems? Last time I checked (which was awhile ago) you were unable to Full Disk encrypt a UEFI system...

Some of the best software to encrypt data are VeraCrypt, AxCrypt, Bitlocker, GNU Privacy Guard and 7-Zip.

I would be hesitant to use Bitlocker for the simple fact that Microsoft's track record on security is very poor, and you would never be able to convince me that it did not contain a backdoor somewhere....

I am unsure about many but I am using Veracrypt but there are some more suggested over the web. But do your research before using one of them as some might contain malwares or even mining cookies which could run over your PC. 

1. Veracrypt
2. AxCrypt
3. Folder Lock 
4. CryptoExpert 8

 

I am unsure about many but I am using Veracrypt but there are some more suggested over the web. But do your research before using one of them as some might contain malwares or even mining cookies which could run over your PC. 

 

1. Veracrypt
2. AxCrypt
3. Folder Lock 
4. CryptoExpert 8

Have you noticed Cryptomining software bundled in with VeraCrypt? 

 

 

I am unsure about many but I am using Veracrypt but there are some more suggested over the web. But do your research before using one of them as some might contain malwares or even mining cookies which could run over your PC. 

 

1. Veracrypt
2. AxCrypt
3. Folder Lock 
4. CryptoExpert 8

Have you noticed Cryptomining software bundled in with VeraCrypt? 

 

 

No not really, why would you say it ? have you .?

 

 

 

I am unsure about many but I am using Veracrypt but there are some more suggested over the web. But do your research before using one of them as some might contain malwares or even mining cookies which could run over your PC. 

 

1. Veracrypt
2. AxCrypt
3. Folder Lock 
4. CryptoExpert 8

Have you noticed Cryptomining software bundled in with VeraCrypt? 

 

 

No not really, why would you say it ? have you .?

 

I have been using veracrypt since it was called truecrypt, and well before crypto mining was ever a thing. There never was cryptominning software bundled with veracrypt. Veracrypt is open source and has recently gone through a code audit https://ostif.org/the-veracrypt-audit-results/

 

 

 

 

I am unsure about many but I am using Veracrypt but there are some more suggested over the web. But do your research before using one of them as some might contain malwares or even mining cookies which could run over your PC. 

 

1. Veracrypt
2. AxCrypt
3. Folder Lock 
4. CryptoExpert 8

Have you noticed Cryptomining software bundled in with VeraCrypt? 

 

 

No not really, why would you say it ? have you .?

 

I have been using veracrypt since it was called truecrypt, and well before crypto mining was ever a thing. There never was cryptominning software bundled with veracrypt. Veracrypt is open source and has recently gone through a code audit https://ostif.org/the-veracrypt-audit-results/

 

Oh well since crypto mining is a thing now, we really cannot trust anything. I wonder how marketing of a single app can push users to download and atleast use once which would leave cookies and hence long term crypto mining. Well thanks for informing me with that.