Do you encrypt external backup drives?

zetec452 · 9 Jan 2011 at 13:50

I'm pondering on whether to truecrypt my external backup drive. Not sure why but I figure if someone steals it at least they can't get ALL of my data.

Am I being paranoid?

tntcoder · 9 Jan 2011 at 14:11

Yer go for it.

Certianly if your main PC is encrypted then you really need to encrypt the backups. But in the case where it isn't, backup drives are easier to nick than a tower case so you might as well. Nothing to lose and a nice safety margin to gain

zetec452 · 9 Jan 2011 at 14:44

Exactly, my backup drive would be quite easy to take.

I haven't encrypted my pc fully yet. One of the main issues I see with truecrypt is that if I encrypt my system volume I need a password on reboot which isn't ideal.

theheyes · 9 Jan 2011 at 22:12

Check to see if your external drive has a hole for a kensington lock too. Unless they are stealing it specifically for the data, they're not going to faff around and will likely just leave it.

Raumarik · 9 Jan 2011 at 22:58

People tend to backup their PCs, but forget that a burglar will look for anything else valuable and those large external drives and NAS boxes are perfect due to being more portable than most PCs. Why encrypt the larger heavier item, but not the cheap, easily portable device with your entire identiy on it.

In short go for it!!

zetec452 · 9 Jan 2011 at 23:04

I've encrypted my drive and am doing a backup.

I also have mozy so if everything breaks or is stolen i'm still covered for important stuff.

GrantJ · 11 Jan 2011 at 15:23

I have a Buffalo 500GB external HDD that has in-built (hardware?) encryption. Every time I connect it, I have to enter the password to access the contents of the drive. Works quite well, but I am not sure how truly secure it is.