How to use BitLocker to encrypt your external drives in Windows Hallie Frederick | usagoldmines.com

Windows 11, Home windows 10, and even older variations come pre-installed with a safety and encryption characteristic known as BitLocker. It allows customers to encrypt every little thing on the drive the place Home windows is put in, defending that information from theft or unauthorized entry. In case you haven’t heard of it, that’s as a result of the characteristic isn’t out there on each Home windows PC. It’s only out there on the Home windows Professional, Enterprise, and Training editions.

BitLocker not solely encrypts the Home windows drive but additionally exterior drives. Encrypting a detachable drive, like a USB stick, is faster and simpler than encrypting the principle Home windows drive. Right here, we’ll talk about tips on how to do all of it.

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How to use BitLocker on Windows 11

Home windows 11 has a characteristic known as BitLocker, which encrypts your information to maintain it secure from others. Here is tips on how to set it up.

Earlier than you get began

BitLocker is a helpful however restricted characteristic. It’s only out there on Home windows 11 (and 10) Professional, Enterprise, and Training editions. It additionally solely works with Home windows units, which implies you need to use a Home windows PC to encrypt your drive, and solely Home windows PCs can decrypt it. You will be unable to entry your information on a non-Home windows pc.

You need to use BitLocker on most varieties of detachable storage, like USB flash drives, SD playing cards, MicroSD playing cards, and exterior onerous drives. So long as the storage makes use of NTFS, FAT16, FAT32, or exFAT file techniques, it ought to work.

When you’ve got partitioned an exterior drive, the partition you wish to defend has to fulfill all the next standards:

• It must be the energetic partition
• It can’t already be encrypted by one thing else
• It needs to be a minimum of 250MB in capability

Encrypting an exterior drive utilizing BitLocker

Encrypting a detachable drive utilizing BitLocker takes lower than a minute. After the encryption course of ends, every time you plug your machine right into a Home windows pc, File Explorer reveals the machine with a lock icon, which alerts that the machine is encrypted. To entry its content material, it’s essential to enter the password set throughout the encryption course of.

1. Plug within the USB drive or join the onerous drive you wish to encrypt.
2. Open the Home windows search bar, sort “BitLocker,” click on on Handle BitLocker and open it.

   

3. Discover your detachable drive beneath Detachable information drives – BitLocker To Go and choose it.
4. Click on Activate BitLocker to begin the encryption course of (picture reveals what it appears like after turning it on). This will take a couple of minutes.

   

5. Select Use a password to unlock the drive, sort in a password, verify it, after which click on Subsequent.

   

After setting the password, you’ll have to again up the restoration key. This key permits you to entry the encrypted drive if you happen to overlook the password. It can save you the important thing as a TXT file in your pc, retailer it on a USB drive, put it aside to your Microsoft account, or print it and preserve it someplace secure.

Within the BitLocker Drive Encryption window, you will note a few choices. If the USB drive or onerous drive is new and doesn’t have any information on it but, go together with Encrypt used disk house solely. If the drive already has information and folders, it’s higher to decide on Encrypt total drive to verify every little thing is protected.

Accessing an encrypted exterior drive

To entry an encrypted exterior drive, join it to your pc. Once you plug it in, you would possibly see a message saying ‘Location shouldn’t be out there’ or ‘Entry is denied.’ This simply means BitLocker is doing its job. Click on OK, after which observe the steps under.

1. Open File Explorer.
2. Click on This PC to see an inventory of your folders, units, and drives.
3. Double-click the encrypted drive you wish to unlock.
4. Enter the password for the drive and click on Unlock.

In case you now not want to guard your detachable drive with BitLocker To Go, you may take away the safety simply. Begin by inserting the drive into your pc and unlocking it along with your BitLocker password. Within the BitLocker supervisor, find your drive within the listing and click on Flip BitLocker off, then verify the motion when prompted.

Hold your exterior drives secure

BitLocker is likely one of the easiest methods to encrypt an exterior drive on Home windows, so long as you are utilizing it with Home windows units. It is simply certainly one of many security measures in Home windows 11. In case you’re keen on studying extra, take a look at Smart App Control, a brand new characteristic launched in Home windows 11 model 22H2. And if you wish to get essentially the most out of BitLocker, listed below are 5 tips to use it more efficiently.

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Should you use BitLocker on Windows?

Sure, in all probability