Tecknomage said:
I just became aware of "TrueCrypt" - Disk Encryption Software....
http://www.truecrypt.org/
Anyone tried this? Opinions?
TrueCrypt is powerful and has lots of options. That's what I use. You
can create container files (encrypted) that you load like a drive or
encrypt an entire volume (drive) on your host. I've never gotten into
encrypting an entire volume but just used the encrypted containers
(which are files that get loaded like a drive after you enter the
password).
You can even protect yourself if forced at gun point to reveal your
password. You can have 2 passwords on a TrueCrypt container file: one
for the outer layer of the container containing bogus or non-sensitive
files and another for the inner layer where is your sensitive data. If
forced to reveal the password, you give the outer one and they see some
files put there as bait to pacify them that you let them in: you let
them in the front door but your treasure trove is behind a hidden door.
They won't get at the inner layer to see what you were really hiding.
Obviously don't use the same password for the Truecrypt container that
you use to log into Windows.
Sometimes all the choices are daunting to users, especially if they
don't want all those options. So some users like BestCrypt because it's
simpler to figure out. TrueCrypt is free. BestCrypt is payware except
for their Traveller version which is the simple one that some users
prefer for simplicity.
TrueCrypt can be used as a portable app so it doesn't install on your
host (
www.truecrypt.org/docs/?s=truecrypt-portable) and BestCrypt is a
portable app already. I use TrueCrypt as a normally installed app only
because I don't need to use it on other hosts or I can install it on the
other hosts so all I have to transfer or tote is the container file.
I haven't bothered to compare TrueCrypt against the payware versions of
BestCrypt to see which is better. That's because TrueCrypt is robust
and powerful and already FREE. The only reason that someone would
prefer the freeware BestCrypt Traveller version over TrueCrypt is they
want something simpler which also means less powerful.