Encrypting a hard drive is a good way to protect its contents from unauthorized access. It encodes the hard drive’s contents using an encryption algorithm.
This way, hackers or other random people can’t get access to your hard drive’s contents in any way unless they get theencryption keyas well.
Windows allows two built-in methods to encrypt your internal as well as external drives—BitLockerandDevice Encryption.
However, these methods depend on theTrusted Platform Module (TPM) hardware. Without TPM, you have to usethird-party appsfor the encryption.
The traditional and the most popular way of encrypting your hard drive is through the built-in feature, BitLocker. you may load this program through the Control Panel orWindows Settings.
Using Device Encryption
you may also use Device Encryption in some computers to encrypt your hard drives. It also uses the TPM like the BitLocker. But while BitLocker allows you to choose which drive to encrypt, this feature encrypts all connected drives.
Apart from the TPM, Device Encryption also has some more prerequisites:
If your computer supports Device Encryption,
Using Third-Party Software
you may also use other third-party encryption software to encrypt and protect your drives.
Most of these programs don’t utilize the TPM, so there’s no hardware limitation. Many open-source and free apps like VeraCrypt, AxCrypt, DiskCryptor, etc., are also available for this purpose.
If you want to encrypt your external hard drives, you may even find an OEM encryption application.
