For several years I used TrueCrypt based encryption to secure my data. Since the release of Windows 7 and enhancements in the disk management I now see the possibility to replace TrueCrypt. How? Well I would create a VHD fixed disk and encrypt this virtual volume with Bitlocker to Go.

Note: before you start please make sure you are running Windows 7 Enterprise or Windows 7 Ultimate version

  • Start Computer Management
  • Click Disk Management  and right click
  • Click Create VHD
    image
  • Enter the VHD filename and location; the Virtual disk size and set the format to fixed size. The disk will be encrypted so you need to set it fixed. Click OK.
    image
  • New volume is created now. Please initialize the disk, create new SIMPLE volume, choose drive letter and format it as NTFS.
    image
  • After following the steps new disk should appear in Windows Explorer.image
  • Go to Windows Explorer and right click on the new created drive. Choose Turn on Bitlocker…
    image
  • Check Use a password to unlock the drive and type your password. Click Nextimage
  • Save the recovery key to a secure location. I would recommend to print it out and keep this somewhere offsite! Click Nextimage
  • Click Start Encryption to encrypt the VHD disk.image
  • Depending on the selected size the VHD disk will be encrypted.
    image

If you running on a installation of Windows 7 Enterprise of Windows 7 Ultimate than Bitlocker to Go is available for you and you can secure your DATA with the proposed solution. I am not going to share this VHD with other operating systems like OSX or Linux, but If I would need to access the secured volume with non windows 7 based system I would always use a virtual machine based on Win7.