Securing External HDD

[Dimitris]

Hello,

I just purchased the software. I have two external HDDs that I want to secure. I simply include the AXCrypt softoware at each HDD and I add the folders (incl. subfolders) that I want to encrypt.

Although the software takes a lot of time to shut down. Am I doing something wrong? In order to secure external HDD (approx. 800 Gb each) will it always take so much time to encrypt? Is there something else I can do?

Thank you,

[SvanteSpectator]

Hello Dimitris,

Encrypting or decrypting 800Gb of data will indeed take significant amounts of time. If your situation is that you need to decrypt all of it when using it, and then re-encrypt all of when done and this needs to be done every time that you do something, then AxCrypt may not be the best solution for you.

AxCrypt works best with individual files that are used independently of each other.

[Anonymous]

Thank you for your reply.

I just purchased the software and I am trying to find how this will work out.

On the HDD I store family photos etc. I do need to encrypt every single file when I login, I just need all the files to be encryted so that if the HDD lost, there will be no access to the files by an another person.

The actual encryption will take place per file when I open it.

Is this possible? In general how the software supports the security of a total HDD (as in my case)?.

 

Thank you

[Sam]

“I do need to encrypt every single file when I login, I just need all the files to be encryted so that if the HDD lost, there will be no access to the files by an another person. The actual encryption will take place per file when I open it. Is this possible? In general how the software supports the security of a total HDD (as in my case)?.”

It’s not clear what you’re asking so I’m going to answer what I think you’re asking.

The first time you start AxCrypt you need to encrypt all of your files. If there’s 800 GB then that’s going to take a bit of time.

Whenever you plug in your external HDDs all your files will appear with an AXX extension. The file will have a green padlock icon – this means it’s encrypted.

If all of your files have a green padlock then even if your HDD is lost, nobody can view your data without your password.

That’s how AxCrypt encrypts the whole hard disk. It might be quicker to select all of your folders (on your HDD) as a “Secured Folder”. AxCrypt will then automatically encrypt all files within those folders even if you add new files.

[SvanteSpectator]

Hello Dimitris and thank you Sam,

Yes, I think AxCrypt will work fine for your use-case. You encrypt all the files once, and them decrypt them on-demand whenever you need to. If the hard disk is lost or stolen, no-one can see the actual content of the encrypted files.

[Arnold]

Dimitris, if you want to be make life easy for you open your HDD in Windows Explorer and make a root folder called PRIVATE. Then drag and drop all of your other folders into your PRIVATE folder. (You don’t have to name it PRIVATE).

• Open AxCrypt and press File, Options, Include Subfolders.
• Press File, Add Secured Folder and Select PRIVATE.

Now whenever something gets added to your HDD it’ll be automatically encrypted and it’ll save you time because you’ll only need to add one Secured Folder instead of how many hundreds of smaller folders that you may have.

[Dimitris]

Hello again and thank you for your replies!

I have the following points that I could use some help:

1. I add the Private folder to the list and it was encrypted. Now, I removed it from the encryption list and it stays encrypted. How do I remove encryption?

2. Ι tried to backup the Private older to another HDD and the encryption capability was also transferred. Is this normal?

thank you!

[Iain]

• You need to right click on the folder (or file) and select the option to decrypt permanently ‘Stop securing and remove from list’. You have probably clicked ‘Remove from list but keep file secured’. If you’re encrypting/decrypting a lot of files; this will take a long time to encrypt/decrypt everything so make sure you want to.
• When you say backup to another HDD do you mean you copied everything? This is of course normal that the file will remain encrypted. Otherwise a hacker could just backup your hard drive and the encryption would disappear. If you want to permanently remove the encryption then press ‘Stop securing and remove from list’.

[SvanteSpectator]

Thanks Iain!

[Dimitris]

Hello again,

On “secured Folders” sheet, if I right click on the folders, I get only “Decrypt permamently” option, which I do and the folders keeps to be encrypted.

[Imi]

Can I use axcrypt to secure the files on my external HDD. Can I choose to encrypt all the files in particular folders only?

Also, are the file names visible e.g. Barcelona0001 or will it have a random file name ?

[SvanteSpectator]

Hello Imi,

The best way to really know the answers is to try! AxCrypt is free, and even the Premium features are free to try for a month.

Yes, you can encrypt all or some files in some folders.

The file names are visible, unless you explicitly use the anonymous rename function after encryption.

The convenience of using AxCrypt for this scenario depends on the number of files and the size of the files involved, and what types of files and how you expect to use them. For some situations AxCrypt is a good fit, for others volume encryption like BitLocker or VeraCrypt,

[Pete]

I have two external hard drives. One for personal use and one for family use. I want a separate password for each one so that family has one and only I have personal one. I can’t seem to do it. I can’t even see how to have a separate sign in. Surely it’s possible.

[Prabhukumar RModerator]

Hello Pete,

AxCrypt is a file encryption software. AxCrypt 2 now use a single sign on model where the same password is used to sign in to our servers and to protect your files. Sorry to say, It does not support a specific password(s) for specific file(s) feature due to some security reasons.

I will suggest to use two different AxCrypt accounts to achieve the same where one is for your personal use and another is for your family.

We can switch between AxCrypt accounts by clearing the local app cache in the AxCrypt app. To do the same just navigating to the AxCrypt app menu options(File | Options | Clear All Settings & Restart) or click the Reset button in the AxCrypt app sign in dialog.

[Oriol]

Hi guys,

I might have a big problem: I recently encripted an external Hard Drive that already had data in it. The problem is that now when I try to open the hard drive doesn’t get recognised by windows and so it asks me to format its content. Obviously I havent done that, but when I click to open a secured file through AxCrypt app and I chose the the HD unit /D: the same pop up window appear saying the system file is not recognised and so it advises me to format the unit (which it’d make me lose my data)

Do you know if I’m doing something wrong? or I really lost all my data?

Any help shading a light on this will be extremely appreciated.

Best,

Oriol

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