BitLocker Drive Encryption
In Windows Vista, you had the BitLocker Drive Encryption feature that allowed you to encrypt the content of entire volumes. In Windows 7, Microsoft has extended this feature to include removable hard disks and thumb drives. This new feature is known as BitLocker To Go.
Note
The encryption performed by BitLocker is transparent to the user—you will use the drive normally and Windows 7 will automatically encrypt the data on the fly when you write to the drive. Likewise, Windows will decrypt the data on the fly when you read from the drive.
BitLocker
The BitLocker Drive Encryption feature in Windows 7 (also available in Windows Vista) allows you to encrypt your hard drives so that it is safe from unauthorized access. Using BitLocker, all data written to a hard drive stays encrypted when it is stored on the drive. When the OS reads the data, it is automatically decrypted. However, if a BitLocker-encrypted drive is removed from a computer, its content will not be accessible unless the correct password is provided. This way, BitLocker helps protect the integrity and security of your data.
Note
Unlike the Encrypting File System (EFS), which allows you to selectively encrypt files, BitLocker encrypts the entire drive.
There are two types of hard drives you can encrypt using BitLocker:
- Operating system drive
This is the drive where Windows 7 is installed in.
- Data drive(s)
This includes internal data drives attached to your computer.
Note
BitLocker is available only in the Enterprise ...
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