BitLocker to Go

Ozymandias · 13 Jan 2009 at 14:39

I've been playing with BitLocker to Go and although it's all good in Windows 7 the functionality is limited to read only access of the usb BitLocked drive in Vista and XP.

Is this read only issue a limitation of the beta or can we expect this limitation in the final release as well?

Conan257 · 13 Jan 2009 at 16:06

Only details I can find say the beta has full functionality......

eXor · 13 Jan 2009 at 16:35

Ozymandias said:
the functionality is limited to read only access of the usb BitLocked drive in Vista and XP.

XP can read BitLocker encrypted drives? :confused:

Is BitLocker capable of encrypting non-system drives / partitions? I toyed with it briefly on Vista Ultimate, but ony went as far as encrypting the OS partition.

Ozymandias · 13 Jan 2009 at 16:58

eXor said:
XP can read BitLocker encrypted drives?

Is BitLocker capable of encrypting non-system drives / partitions? I toyed with it briefly on Vista Ultimate, but ony went as far as encrypting the OS partition.

Yes BitLocker To Go on Windows 7 can encrypt a usb stick. On Windows 7 it is seen as a drive with read/write capability. On XP/Vista you have to run BitLocketToGo.exe on the stick and a small reader app loads that lets you copy files from the stick to another drive (but doesn't let you write to the encrypted stick).

eXor · 13 Jan 2009 at 19:54

Ozymandias said:
Yes BitLocker To Go on Windows 7 can encrypt a usb stick. On Windows 7 it is seen as a drive with read/write capability. On XP/Vista you have to run BitLocketToGo.exe on the stick and a small reader app loads that lets you copy files from the stick to another drive (but doesn't let you write to the encrypted stick).

A happy Vista user wouldn't upgrade so soon. A deliberate limitation?

There are alternatives, but they need Admin privileges on the target computer :

1. TrueCrypt's Traveler Mode.

2. FreeOTFE's Portable Mode.