“I just bought a new 500 GB external hard drive which is used to store sensitive files on it. In case important data is exposed when lost or stolen, I would like to encrypt it. Therefore, sensitive files on it are well protected and cannot be seen by others, and yet the drive can be moved to another computer and I can access it.”
The question above is asked by a guy on a forum. Do you have a hard drive handy and have you ever thought about encrypting it? Nowadays, as the usage of these small sized portable devices is increasing day by day, incidents of lost or stolen removable devices such as external hard drives often occur, ultimately leading to data loss and breach. of privacy. To avoid data loss, it is necessary to enhance the security of your external hard drive and other USB devices in advance. An encryption tool that can encrypt removable devices is an option available to you.
Encryption software allows you to add a password to protect your data on USB devices. You can prevent anyone without the correct password from accessing your sensitive information on USB removable devices, even if your devices are lost or stolen. You can find numbers of USB security software on Google, but the point is that you should select the best one among them. Good encryption software usually features AES 256-bit encryption because AES 256-bit is the highest level of protection available in data encryption today. And it is convenient for you to access encrypted data on any computer, even if the computer does not have security software installed. Also, it must be easy to use because some encryption software is too complicated for users to understand.
After selecting the security software, you can encrypt external hard drives with the encryption software on your own. You would be using Wondershare USB Drive Encryption to encrypt external hard drives and other USB devices. In addition to the features mentioned above, it can also enable you to get more protection to hide your encrypted data by removing access to encrypted data. Also, the encryption can be finished in 4 easy steps. Follow the steps below and find out how to encrypt external hard drives with Wondershare USB Drive.
Step 1: Download the software from here and install it on your computer by following the step by step guide.
Step 2 – Insert your external hard drive into the computer.
If you have files stored on your hard drive, remember to back up your files to it. Otherwise, you will lose your data because it will delete all existing files to create a safe area to store your sensitive data.
Step 3 – Select your target external hard drive and set the size of the safe area according to your needs, and then click Install.
Step 4: Enter your username and password.
The password should be easy to remember, but not so common that others will guess the password and gain access to the encrypted data. Once you forget your password, you will never get it back.
After the above steps, your external hard drive is encrypted and prevents users without a password from accessing the encrypted area on it. To encrypt files in it, drag and drop them into the secure area created after opening them with the correct password. It is very easy and convenient.