  Ddaydave Member Username: Ddaydave Post Number: 357 Registered: 04-2005 |
I have a laptop I want to encrypt I have been messing around with truecrypt http://www.truecrypt.org/ and really like it but havent had the guts to do my whole operating system yet. Does any one here use encryption software and have any recommendations on encryption software to use thanks. Dave | ||
Jcole Member Username: Jcole Post Number: 5853 Registered: 04-2005 |
I'm a contractor who does work for various companies, and only one uses encryption software. Depending on how you encrypt, it can cause problems if you have a crash and the boot sector bombs. One of my clients has to have full system encryption, and his PC took a dump. There is no way to boot back into the system to use Restore. The encryption assumes you are trying to hack and won't give you any way to recover. You can try a DOS decrypt, but in this instance it didn't work, so I had to reformat his machine and he lost everything. It was a nightmare. If you are going to encrypt, keep a complete recent back up on hand at all times. Also, keep a copy of your password somewhere safe in the event something happens to you and others need to get into that laptop. I'll try to find you the name of the software and post it here later | ||
Jcole Member Username: Jcole Post Number: 5854 Registered: 04-2005 |
The company I was talking about uses PGP encryption software. They are a financial institution so they need powerful software | ||
Islandman Member Username: Islandman Post Number: 1977 Registered: 08-2004 |
That's what I use. It's always good to start with a fresh system when using software like this. | ||
Jcole Member Username: Jcole Post Number: 5855 Registered: 04-2005 |
Islandman, have you had any problems with the software? I've done the install and encryption with no issues, but that system crash was a bugger. They have decryption .iso's on their support site which are version number specific, so you might want to download the one you need and burn it just to be on the safe side. As I said, it didn't work for my client, but, as I later found out, his hard drive was going bad, so that may have compounded the problem | ||
Ddaydave Member Username: Ddaydave Post Number: 358 Registered: 04-2005 |
I've been studying encrpytion listen to this http://media.grc.com/sn/SN-041 .mp3 | ||
Islandman Member Username: Islandman Post Number: 1981 Registered: 08-2004 |
No problems, Jcole. I would say that doing a recovery from this would be a pain. I'll check out those .iso's. Do you know any good data recovery companies for hard drives? | ||
Jcole Member Username: Jcole Post Number: 5857 Registered: 04-2005 |
Not off hand. All I really know is that they charge an arm and a leg. I'll ask an associate next time I talk to him and see if he has any suggestions | ||
Jcole Member Username: Jcole Post Number: 5859 Registered: 04-2005 |
I'm sure the open source stuff is fine, but my client has a requirement to meet prescribed by his company. Most large companies tend to stick to big brand stuff and don't allow much choice or variation. | ||
Ddaydave Member Username: Ddaydave Post Number: 359 Registered: 04-2005 |
a video on the subject http://www.top-windows-tutoria ls.com/Disk-encryption.html I probably will do this in the next few days on my laptop | ||
Jcole Member Username: Jcole Post Number: 5868 Registered: 04-2005 |
Like I said, the install and encryption should work fine, just make sure to back up before you go ahead with it. | ||
Ddaydave Member Username: Ddaydave Post Number: 360 Registered: 04-2005 |
any recommendations for a backup program Jcole | ||
Jcole Member Username: Jcole Post Number: 5869 Registered: 04-2005 |
What operating system are you running? | ||
Ddaydave Member Username: Ddaydave Post Number: 361 Registered: 04-2005 |
Vista Home Premium | ||
Jcole Member Username: Jcole Post Number: 5871 Registered: 04-2005 |
You could probably run the backup program built into Vista. It's under Accessories/System tools. Configuration is easy and it's free. Do you have a external drive to back up to? You can run that backup to that and then burn to disk as you choose. There are other corporate BU programs that you could use, but they're pricey. Or, depending on the Security Suite you're using, most have a BU component included. I have also used Stomp for a small business, and it works well. A few more bells and whistles than the built in, but if it's just for your home laptop, Vista or Security Suite should do the trick. Is this a work laptop or your personal info and photos and such? | ||
Bigb23 Member Username: Bigb23 Post Number: 3968 Registered: 11-2007 |
I got lost when you have to back up your back up system. My external "really" crashed, when it fell off my desk. I lost 200 gigs of media. So, back up your back up, and back up again, to be safe.   | ||
Jcole Member Username: Jcole Post Number: 5873 Registered: 04-2005 |
That's why I suggested burning the back up to CD or DVD | ||
Bigb23 Member Username: Bigb23 Post Number: 3970 Registered: 11-2007 |
But 200 gigs to DVD? I've had problems before, just backing up 750 megs of photos to CD Rom. Is there a fool proof program ? --Fool | ||
Jcole Member Username: Jcole Post Number: 5875 Registered: 04-2005 |
I used to back up an entire server once a week with daily incrementals and then burn them. It took 15 DVDs a week. I did it with 50% compression and spanned the disks, so if you did have to restore, you had to run a full restore. You could pick and choose what to restore once you mounted the backup in the software, but you couldn't just open disks and look for stuff. I used Stomp, which I linked above. The other options is to install a large secondary drive in your PC and back up to that, with the option to overwrite weekly. | ||
Ddaydave Member Username: Ddaydave Post Number: 362 Registered: 04-2005 |
Success I encrypted my whole operating system and hard drive using Truecrypt and it works great. It hasn't slowed my computer down at all I feel a lot less worried about my computer data being stolen if I lose it or it gets stolen. To my surprise it was very easy to do. I travel aboard for a living I am curious to see what will happen if I cross a border and they want to see my computer and hard drive and what the laws are on encryption and not giving up your password. (Message edited by ddaydave on February 22, 2009) | ||
Islandman Member Username: Islandman Post Number: 1982 Registered: 08-2004 |
At border crossings they want to make sure you can turn on a laptop (ask me how I know this). They are not very friendly when you tell them it won't turn on because the power supply was fried while setting up power and sound at a venue (ask me how I know that). I came close to becoming a semi-permanent resident of France. | ||
Jcole Member Username: Jcole Post Number: 5909 Registered: 04-2005 |
Some airports do the same thing with laptops. |
