9/7/11

Encrypt your entire hard disk for free

You may think that setting windows logon password will keep all your data safe . For hackers its not a big deal to break windows passwords.Tools like trinity rescue kit,konboot etc will break your windows password within seconds.So if you are professional or something like that and you may have critical data in your hard drive its not fully safe with windows login password or with bitlocker(A free tool avalable with windows 7 ultimate).Once the identity thieves access all your personal data then he can make your life like hell.So in this post I will show you how to encrypt your entire hard disk for free.We will be using a powerful ,Open Source program called “TrueCrypt” for this.In OpenSource world there are many powerful tools like TrueCrypt is available.So do a visit at SourceForge.net and feel the power of OpenSource.

Lets start the process.Download TrueCrypt from www.truecrypt.org .Run it.You will get 2 options asking wheather to download or to just extract the files.I prefer to install.






















Now run TrueCrypt from the desktop.
1.Click on “Create New Volume” and Next
 

























2.Select “Encrypt the system partition or entire system drive” and Next


3.Select the Type of System Encryption as “Normal” and Next

4.Select the Area to Encrypt as “Encrypt the whole drive” and Next




















5.We are not using any networking stuffs here so select No for the Host Protected Area and proceed

6.Next window will ask whether your system is single boot or multi boot .Since I have only one OS.I selected “Single -boot” and Next.

7.Now select the Encryption Options
·         Select your favourite encryption algorithm if you are aware of it or simply select AES
·         Select HASH algorithm also , default is RIPEMD-160
·         Click next to proceed

8.Here is the important part .Enter a strong password,which may be the combination of uppercase,lowercase,numbers etc.Truecrypt will needs a password of minimum length of 20 characters,otherwise it will display an alert saying  small passwords can be cracked easily blah blah.


9.Next step TrueCrypt will create random keys.Here you are supposed to move your mouse inside the “current pool content”  filed for a long time inorder to generate a more randomized key.Click Next.

10.Next  window will show your header key and master key .Nothing to do here .Just click Next to continue.





















11.Its the time to create the rescue disc if anything goes wrong.Browse and select where to save the ISO image.It will open your windows image burner.Just burn it and keep it safe.If you are a netbook user you have to use a tool called Wincdemu for creating the rescue disk (Just google it.)

12.Next screen you will get a confirmation screen saying “Rescue disc verified” and Next.
13.Select the wipe mode as “None(Fastest)” and Next.
14.Next window will ask you for “System Encryption Pretest” ,ie,a test run.Click Test.
15.Your system will be rebooted and you will get a prompt  asking to enter your password.Just enter password carefully and hit enter.Your windows will get loaded.

16. Once you logged in to the system.TrueCrypt automatically pops up saying “Pretest completed” and just click “Encrypt”.And this will start the encryption process.Normally it will take a hour + to complete the encryption process.The encrypting speed will depend upon your harddisk speed and processor speed.
17.Once you get the “Encryption completed” message .Its all done

You had successfully created your encrypted hard disk.And it will be pretty harder for the hackers to get into your system.But you must be aware that , nothing is impossible for a hacker.He hacks everything. Someday some hacker will say TrueCrypt is not  safe anymore.So stay updated in the tech field.


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