7
An external hard drive can be encrypted in just a few steps. All you need is a free program. Although this is in English, our instructions will guide you quickly and safely through the individual steps.
How to encrypt your hard drive for free: Simple instructions
To encrypt your hard drive, first download the free open source program VeraCrypt. The tool works on all systems: Linux, MacOS, and Windows. Back up all data stored on the external hard drive. This is because all data will be deleted from the hard drive during the encryption process!
- With VeraCrypt, you can both protect your external hard drive with a password and create a container.
- Please also note that your hard drive must not be partitioned. Otherwise, the program will not be able to perform encryption.
- First, open the tool and go to “Create Volume.”
- Then select “Encrypt a non-system partition/drive” .
- By clicking on “Next,” you confirm that an external medium is to be encrypted.
- Now you must enter your user data for your PC. Then confirm with “Yes.”
- To create a standard volume, go to “Standard VeraCrypt volume.” Confirm with “Next”.
- In the next window, select the hard drive you want to encrypt. Confirm with “OK”.
VeraCrypt: Perform further steps
To proceed, follow these steps:
- In the next window, select “Create encrypted volume and format it” and click “Ok”.
The hard drive will now be encrypted and all data will be deleted from the hard drive (!).
- Now you must select an encryption method from the list and confirm with “Ok”.
- In the next window, click “Ok” again.
- Finally, you will be asked to choose a password for the encryption. Confirm this by clicking “Next.”
- In the next window, you must specify “Yes” or “No” whether you intend to store files larger than 4 GB on the storage medium. This is for later backup purposes. Confirm the appropriate option.
- If the bar in the next window is completely green, click “Format.”
- In the next window, move the mouse randomly and then click “OK.”
- The encryption is now complete.
