I have been using ever since I discovered the encryption software years ago to protect data from being accessed by third parties. It is a great open source software that has functionality to create encrypted data containers or partitions, including the system partition the operating system is installed on.
DiskCryptor DiskCryptor is often referred to as an open source alternative to Bitlocker if you don’t have a Bitlocker capable Windows, and with compatibility from Windows 2000 up to Windows 8.1/Server 2012, it’s certainly more compatible than Bitlocker.
Update: DiskCryptor has not been updated in a while and while that does not mean that it does not work anymore at all, it is certainly something that users and administrators need to be aware of. As one user pointed out recently in the comments, DiskCryptor is not compatible with GUID Boot partitions with UEFI. I suggest you check out instead. End is, as the name implies, another encryption software that offers functionality to encrypt disk partitions.
That's a disadvantage compared to TrueCrypt and not the only difference between the two applications. TrueCrypt for instance is available for Windows, Mac and Linux, while DiskCryptor only for Windows.
The software furthermore supports a portable mode which DiskCryptor does not as well. As far as the advantages of DiskCryptor go, it supports keyfiles for full disk encryption and can place bootloaders on external devices like USB Flash drives.
Another interesting fact about DiskCryptor is that partition backups only take up the data space and not the space of the partition's overall storage capacity. If you backup a 1 Terabyte drive that is encrypted with TrueCrypt, you end up with a 1 Terabyte backup. With DiskCryptor, you'd end up with a backup that is only as large as the data that is stored on the partition. This reduces the time it takes to create the backup and the storage requirements. How to encrypt partitions with DiskCryptor It is actually very easy to encrypt a partition with the disk encryption software. The program needs to be installed on your system, and requires administrative privileges to run. It will load the list of connected hard drives and partitions, indicating the system partition and boot partition on the screen as well.
First thing that you may want to do is click on Tools > Benchmark to benchmark all available encryption algorithms. This is important as it directly correlates to the time it takes to encrypt the selected partition. The program supports AES hardware acceleration and cascading algorithms.
Please note that the actual encryption process is slower than the speed outlined in the benchmark as you have to factor in disk reads and writes, whereas the benchmark does not. Once you have done that, it is time to select a partition that you want to encrypt. This is done with a click on the selected partition and the selection of encrypt on the right sidebar menu. Zhurnal praleska. Select the algorithm that you want to use, and whether you want to use the program's Disk Wipe feature. The disk wipe feature does not erase unused or used space.