Hard Drive Encryption

[TimPoet]

Hey guys, got a friend who uses a laptop for her business and is worried about private data security especially if its lost or stolen.

I have heard that encrypting the entire hard drive is a great way to go.

What applications are best for this? Hopefully something that doesn't slow her system down and is user friendly. It doesn't have to be a budget item. Security, user-friendliness and system speed are the keys here.

[pally01]

Truecrypt http://www.truecrypt.org/ was recommended to me on these forums. It was free, easy to set up and access etc. I've encrypted only smaller (50 gb) partitions so far, but it'd probably work just as well for an entire drive. As for system speed: once the encrypted items are unlocked, access to/from is as quick as un-encrypted files are.

[Negeva]

I use truecrypt to encrypt a 'working' partition not an entire drive; never done a full drive with OS on it as I've never been sure about the performance hit. Plus, it also encrypts a section of my USB flash drive - something ppl seem to forget about.

[perkster]

yeah basically you want an encrypted partition with all your work documents in it.