Truecrypt 5 - encrypt entire system disk?

[BATcher]

If I understand it correctly, it is now possible using Truecrypt 5 to encrypt the entire system disk of a Windows system.

This looks like an ideal method of rendering a laptop (or at least its disk) useless if stolen, and may thus be of interest to various UK Government departments (for example!)...

But has anyone been brave enough to try this yet?

[jscher2000]

Windows XP Pro's Encrypting File System (EFS) also should render a laptop useless if stolen — unless the user's or a domain administrator's windows password is learned.

That said, EFS is not included in "Home" versions of Windows, so it's nice to have an alternative. But it would be even more important to keep a good backup. <img src=/S/grin.gif border=0 alt=grin width=15 height=15>

[StuartR]

I haven't tried the Full Disk Encryption, but I do use a TrueCrypt volume to store all of my data, and I think it is a really great utility.

I previously used PGPDisk, but TrueCrypt is faster, more stable, and <img src=/S/free.gif border=0 alt=free width=30 height=15>

StuartR

[AlanMiller]

You can go a step further and store encrypted data in a hidden volume, in addition to the "visible" volume containing the system disk. I'm sure this feature makes it of considerable interest to "various UK Government departments", but probably not the ones you were thinking of. <img src=/S/invisible.gif border=0 alt=invisible width=15 height=15>

Alan

[JoeP517]

You must remember though that if you lose physical control of a PC you should consider it compromised regardless of encryption or hidden partitions.

Joe

[BATcher]

People might be interested to hear or read the most recent Steve Gibson / Leo Laporte "Security Now" discussion on Truecrypt 5. They are extremely enthusiastic about it, and one of the surprising conclusions is that encypting your system drive makes (one aspect of) Windows run faster!

The 20-page PDF will probably take you less time to read than to listen to the entire 69 minutes of the show!