BitLocker: Downsides, or things to keep in mind?

Sumanji

Sumanji

Sumanji

Soldato
Joined
12 Mar 2003
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Location
USA
Hi,

I'm considering enabling BitLocker on my desktop PC (Windows 10 with four disks: 1 x NVME for OS/games, 1 x NVME for games, and 2 x SATA for files/data/pics etc.).

Anything to consider before doing this? It seems like read/write speed isn't an issue as long as the disk supports hardware based encryption, but is there anything else to keep in mind?

Thanks,

Su
 
Do not lose the recovery key, and storing it on the PC is obviously a bad idea! We have hundreds of devices using it at work and every now and again for no reason it will just stop working and need the recovery key
 
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Bumhug said:
...every now and again for no reason it will just stop working and need the recovery key
Click to expand...

That doesn't sound ideal!

Practically what does this mean? On a boot drive does that totally stop you from getting into Windows? And if on a data drive, is it just inaccessible from Windows until you type the recovery key in somewhere?
 
It can stop you booting absolutely. Seen it at work a few times myself. Personally wouldn't bother on a home PC, if someone is stealing it I have bigger problems than my holiday snaps
 
Really the question is what are you trying to achieve? Ideally it's just a solution looking for a problem.
 
Sumanji said:
More for things like bank statements, tax returns, scans of important docs etc.
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Fair enough, bitlocker is a fair idea then. I don't use my PC for anything other than entertainment these days. As stated keep a copy of the key in more than one place
 
It's obvious and has been stated already, but definitely keep a copy of the recovery key in work. On the work laptop I had prior to my current one something happened, and I had to enter the key every time I started it up; I ended up memorising all 48 digits!
 
Looks like recovery keys can be viewed online in Microsoft account details at any time? (At least this seems to be the case for my Surface Laptop)
 
Sumanji said:
Looks like recovery keys can be viewed online in Microsoft account details at any time? (At least this seems to be the case for my Surface Laptop)
Click to expand...
That's it, but after the second time I had to ask our MS admin to get it I just wrote it down and eventually remembered it. Honestly not hard, I don't have a particularly good memory but when you repeat something every morning for a few months it sticks!

Now the laptop's gone for recycling I use the code as a password for specific accounts. :D
 
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