Securing external hard drive

[ennogs]

What is my best free way to secure an external hard drive so only I can access the data? Ideally I want it password protected and encrypted.

 

[ennogs]

What brand is it? The major ones tend to offer software with them that will do that.

I wont be ordering it until tomorrow. I will be probably be getting a WD Elements Desktop 2 TB External hard drive.

 

[ennogs]

Truecrypt, have a small partition to set up a traveler disk then ecrypt the main partion. Or if its always going to be used on a system with truecrypt installed then a full disk encryption

Does that mean with traveler disk set up I can connect it to any PC or laptop and access the data (provided I enter the password)?

What if I also wanted to view the files on a mac would the truecrpt hinder me?