How to lock a hard drive with a password in Windows 11

by Shane Doe · February 21, 2022

On this article, I’ll inform you lock your onerous drive with a password utilizing home windows in-built characteristic BitLocker. This can be a nice strategy to shield your information from prying eyes and preserve your system safe.

What are the advantages of locking a tough drive?

There are various advantages to locking your onerous drive with a password. A few of these advantages embody:

Protects knowledge from being accessed by anybody who doesn’t have your password.
Prevents cyber attackers from putting in malware on the pc.
Prevents unauthorized copying of information on USB flash drives or exterior onerous drives.

What’s BitLocker?

BitLocker is free software program from Microsoft that permits you to encrypt your whole onerous drive. It does this by making a digital encrypted disk throughout the bodily disk. That is executed in such a manner that each one knowledge saved on the drive can solely be accessed when utilizing a certified password. It’s a good suggestion to make use of BitLocker with a password you might have by no means used elsewhere.

When a drive is locked by means of BitLocker, it’s not doable to entry the info on the drive with out the proper password. Even when the onerous drive is faraway from the pc and connected to a different machine, will probably be inaccessible.

BitLocker makes use of the superior encryption commonplace (AES) with 128-bit or 256-bit keys to guard your knowledge. AES is a really robust encryption algorithm that’s utilized by the US authorities to guard labeled data.

Sorts of BitLocker encryption

BitLocker can make the most of two varieties of encryption, 128-bit or 256-bit, relying on the working system you might be utilizing. The completely different ranges of encryption shield your knowledge with completely different strengths of safety. For instance, a decrease degree can be high-quality for shielding the knowledge you do not want very securely. Nonetheless, in case you are storing labeled authorities data, you’d need to use the next degree of encryption.

On Home windows 11, there are two varieties of BitLocker Encryption you may make the most of:

BitLocker Drive Encryption – This sort of encryption encrypts all the info in your onerous drive. It’s a good selection if you have to shield your knowledge from unauthorized entry.
BitLocker To Go – This sort of encryption encrypts detachable drives, resembling USB flash drives or exterior onerous drives. It’s a good selection if you have to shield your knowledge whereas it’s being transported.

What are the system necessities for BitLocker?

So as to use BitLocker, your pc should meet the next system necessities:

Working System: Home windows 7 Enterprise, Home windows 8 Enterprise, Home windows 8.1 Professional, Home windows 10 Professional, Home windows 11 Professional, Schooling, or Enterprise version.
{Hardware}: Trusted Platform Module (TPM) model 1.2. For Home windows 11, it’s TPM 2.0.
To run BitLocker, you should have two or extra partitions in your gadget. One is the system partition the place OS is put in and others the place different knowledge is saved.
You should be logged in with the Administrator Account.
The pc’s motherboard needs to be in UEFI mode.

Tips on how to Lock Exhausting Drive with BitLocker in Home windows 11?

To lock your onerous drive with BitLocker in Home windows 11:

Open the Management Panel and choose System & Safety.
Scroll down and click on on BitLocker Drive Encryption.
Click on on ‘Flip On BitLocker‘ for the drive that you just need to encrypt.
Select a password and click on on ‘Subsequent’.
Select how do you need to again up your restoration key.
Subsequent, select how a lot of your drive you need to encrypt. Should you (a.) select the used disk area choice, solely the presently occupied disk area will probably be encrypted. This may end the encryption course of rapidly. Alternatively, in the event you (b.) selected to encrypt your entire drive, your entire disk will probably be encrypted and it’ll take a for much longer time.
Within the subsequent step, select which encryption mode you’ll prefer to encrypt your gadget. There are two modes: (a.) New Encryption Mode: appropriate for encrypting the fastened drive of the system; and (b.) Appropriate Mode: appropriate for moveable gadgets like USB flash drives, and onerous Disks.
Await BitLocker to complete encrypting your drive.
Click on on ‘End’.

What are the constraints of BitLocker encryption?

Although BitLocker is a wonderful characteristic to password lock your onerous drive, it has some limitations:

BitLocker is just not out there on all variations of Home windows.
BitLocker can solely be used with a TPM model 1.2 or greater.
You have to have two or extra partitions in your gadget.
You should be logged in with the Administrator Account.
BitLocker can’t be used to encrypt drives which can be bigger than 2 TB.
You can not use BitLocker to encrypt system information.

Conclusion

BitLocker encryption is a wonderful strategy to password shield your onerous drive. It has many advantages, resembling stopping entry to knowledge by unauthorized customers, stopping the set up of malware, and stopping the copying of information to USB flash drives or exterior onerous drives. Although it has some limitations, resembling not being out there on all variations of Home windows and solely being appropriate with TPM model 1.2 or greater, the advantages of BitLocker encryption far outweigh these limitations.

How do I unlock my drive with the proper password?

In case you are utilizing BitLocker Drive Encryption on Home windows 11, the unlocking course of is fairly simple. Simply kind in your password and click on unlock. Sadly, in case you are utilizing BitLocker To Go on one other OS like Home windows XP or Vista, unlocking drives generally is a little harder. You will want to kind within the Restoration Key Code that you just created once you arrange BitLocker. If in case you have misplaced or forgotten your Restoration Key Code, you should use the ‘Discover my restoration key’ characteristic on the BitLocker web site to unlock your drive.