For users who have been affected by the recent TrueCrypt security issue, DiskCryptor is an excellent alternative to TrueCrypt for Windows, and it can be used to encrypt and protect all data containers. Partition, including the system partition (the section where the operating system is installed).
If you switched over from TrueCrypt, here’s how you can use DiskCryptor to encrypt partitions in Windows.
Encrypt the partition using DiskCryptor
From its official website and install it like any other software. Once installed, you may have to restart your Windows machine.
After rebooting, launch DiskCryptor. You will be prompted by Windows UAC (User Access Control). Click the “Yes” button to continue.
Once DiskCryptor is opened, it will list all drive connections and partitions, including the system partition.
Before doing anything, it is good to benchmark the speed of the cipher algorithms available. The faster the encryption speed, the less time it takes to encrypt and decrypt the drive or partition. To compare the algorithms, navigate to “Tools -> Benchmark.” This will open the “Encryption Benchmark” window; Click on the “Benchmark” button to start the process. Once the benchmarking is complete, you should see results that look like the image below. According to the results, you can choose the algorithm you want to use.
To encrypt a drive using DiskCryptor, select the drive or partition and click the “Encrypt” button to start encrypting.
The above action will open the “Encryption Settings” window. Choose the encryption algorithm, wipe mode, and click the “Next” button to continue.
Note: The wiping mode in DiskCryptor does not necessarily delete the data in the drive. It analyzes the sectors, wipes data clean, and overwrites it with encrypted data. Put, when the erase mode is used, all your previous information is still intact. Still, DiskCryptor encrypts all that leftover data are making it impossible to recover that data using any of the tools used. Come on. If you are unsure about the scan mode, you should leave the option as “None”. to know more about the wipe mode in DiskCryptor.
DiskCryptor will ask for a volume password, so go ahead and use some strong passwords. As you can see from the image below, I have created a sixteen-character password with a combination of uppercase, lowercase letters, numbers, and special characters. When you have finished entering the password twice, click the “Ok” button to encrypt the selected drive.
Depending on the drive size and the algorithm you have chosen, it may take quite a while to encrypt the entire drive.
When encryption is complete, the encrypted drive is mounted automatically so you can start using it immediately.
That’s all there is to do, and it’s simple to encrypt partitions using DiskCryptor. In the future, if you need to decrypt an encrypted drive, select the drive in DiskCryptor and click the decrypt button.
I hope that helps you, and do comment below to share your thoughts and experiences using DiskCryptor.
