A handy feature in DiskCryptor lets you pause an encryption and resume it at a later time or even on a different computer.
More About DiskCryptor
DiskCryptor supports a wide variety of encryption schemes, operating systems, and file systems:
Can be installed on Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP, and Windows 2000 Windows Server 2012, 2008, and 2003 are also supported DiskCryptor supports common file systems like NTFS, FAT12/16/32, and exFAT It supports AES, Twofish, and Serpent encryption algorithms One or more keyfiles can be used to increase security. DiskCryptor supports using a custom file/folder and/or randomly generated file as a keyfile for added protection. If you choose this option, you don’t have to create a password, though you can for even more security
DiskCryptor Pros and Cons
Aside from a lack of official documentation, there’s little not to like about DiskCryptor:
How to Encrypt the System Partition Using DiskCryptor
Whether you need to encrypt the system partition or one from any other hard drive, the method is nearly the same. Here’s how to encrypt the system partition with DiskCryptor:
Thoughts on DiskCryptor
Despite the fact that there isn’t much documentation (found here), DiskCryptor is still very easy to use. Accepting the default values all the way through the wizard will encrypt a partition without any problems. This screen is for choosing encryption settings. Leaving it at default is just fine, but you do you have the option to change the encryption algorithm DiskCryptor uses. The Wipe Mode section of this screen is for clearing all the data from the drive (identical to a hard drive wipe) before encrypting it, something you certainly don’t want to do for the system drive, so it can remain as None. See this list of data sanitization methods to learn about these wipe modes. This section is for configuring bootloader options. If you’re interested in this, see DiskCryptor’s information on these options. The more complex of a password you enter, the higher up the Password Rating bar will go—anywhere from Trivially Breakable to Unbreakable. Refer to this indicator while you’re entering a password to know if you should adjust it. Passwords can be alphabetical (upper or lower case), numerical, or a mix of both. Keyfiles are fine to use for any other volume, just make sure you don’t use them when setting up encryption for a system/boot partition. However, as is mentioned above, the keyfile and password combo issue is extremely important to realize. Missing that small bug will unfortunately render your files inaccessible. It’s understandable that using a keyfile may not be supported when encrypting a system partition, but it’d still be very helpful if DiskCryptor either disabled the feature on that particular screen entirely, or at least displayed a warning. There are some things we do like about DiskCryptor, though, like being able to encrypt multiple volumes at once, which is extremely useful considering the time it takes to complete just one, and allowing an encryption to be paused. When pausing an encryption, you can even remove the drive and insert it into another computer to resume it, which is really cool. Also, keyboard shortcuts to mount and dismount encrypted volumes are very handy so you don’t have to open DiskCryptor every time you want to do so. These can be configured in the Settings > Hot Keys menu.
