Best Software Software Available For

We have already covered a list of the best encryption software available for Windows, and you can read all about them here.

If you take regular backup of your primary machine (which you should, if you are not already doing), chances are that you are using an external hard drive to do it.

Even if you do not take backups on your hard drive, there are still a ton of files on them which you might want to keep away from prying eyes.

Since hard-drives can be accessed by anyone using any device, its always better to protect yours by encrypting it.

An encrypted hard drive will always require a password before anyone can access its contents.

Best Software How To Password Protect

So, if you have not secured your external hard drives till now, this is how to password protect external hard drives on Mac and Windows.

But, before we start, create and note down a strong password which you will be using to decrypt your hard drive after it has been encrypted.

Enter the password you already created and write down a hint.

If you think you can remember the password without the hint, write anything (hint creation is mandatory), if only for throwing people off.

Depending on the size of files inside it, it might take a lot of time.

If you are using a big hard drive, it is better to leave it overnight.

One thing to keep in mind is that this method will erase all your data before it encrypts the hard drive.

The main use of Disk Utility Tool is when you dont want to encrypt the whole drive but only a part of it.

Disk Utility Tool will allow you to create partitions on your hard drive and then encrypt the partition you want to encrypt.

Select your external drive from the left side menu and then click on the Erase button.

Remember that if theres any data on the drive, it will be deleted using this process.

Select the Mac OS Extended (Journaled, Encrypted) option from the drop down menu as shown in the image below.

Now, whenever you plug in your hard drive into any machine you will see a prompt to enter the password before you can access its content.

However, one thing to note here is that this function is only available for Pro and Enterprise versions of Windows.

You will have to use a third-party software if you want to encrypt your external hard drive using the home version of the Windows.

So, first, we will start with locking your external drive using the Pro edition of Windows.

To encrypt the drive, select it and click on Turn on BitLocker.

The encryption time will depend on the size of your external drive and the files in it.

Best Password Software For Mac