If you have an external hard drive and usually use it to store important and confidential files, you should pay attention to the security of the drive. Due to the removability of external hard drives, an unprotected external drive can be accessed by anyone on any computer. This is a great potential threat to the security of the external drive as well as the data stored on it. So, is there a way to protect an external hard drive with password and prevent it from accessed by unauthorized users? The answer is Yes. Now this page will show you how to password protect an external hard drive on Windows 10. Two methods are available.

In the pop-up window, select the external hard disk partition and click OK. Click on Mount in the lower left corner. In the pop-up dialog, enter the password for the external hard drive and click OK. After a short while, the password protected external hard drive is decrypted and mounted on the computer. The instructions below are step-by-step directions on how to set up a password protection for an external drive on Mac OS X. Require a Password to Access External Drives with an Encrypted Partition With these steps you can format an external drive and erase all of it’s contents, back up the contents before proceeding, and do not lose the set. A quick and easy tutorial on how to put a password on any MyPassport Hard Drive. Note: - Works for any MyPassport Hard Drive. App is WD Sec. By the way, if you find a Mac hard drive locked and protected by password, you can check out the page and get the solution: How to Bypass Mac OS X Password. How to Recover Data from Hard Drive After you removed the password, you can have access to your hard drive data.

Way 1: Password protect external hard drive on Windows 10 using BitLocker

Windows 10 comes with a disk encryption tool named BitLocker Drive Encryption, which enables you to use passwords to protect hard drives connected to your computer, including external and internal hard drives.

Note: BitLocker is only available for Pro and Enterprise editions of Windows 10. If you want to password protect an external hard drive in Windows 10 Home, please go to the second method. See How to View Which Edition of Windows 10 You Are Running.

Step 1: Connect the external hard drive to your computer via a USB slot.

Step 2: Go to This PC, right-click on the external hard drive volume and select Turn on BitLocker option from the context menu.

Step 3: Choose the option “Use a password to unlock the drive”, then enter a password and click Next.

Step 4: Choose one location to back up your recovery key which can be used instead of your password to unlock your external hard drive. You can choose to save the key to your Microsoft account, a USB flash drive or a local file on this computer. Then click Next.

Step 5: On the next page, Click Next. Then choose Compatible mode as the encryption mode and click Next.

Step 6: Finally click Start Encrypting to start encrypting the external hard drive.

Step 7: Now just wait until the encryption process is fully complete. This takes a few minutes depending on the size of your external drive.

Tips: How to access the password protected external hard drive

When the external hard drive has been encrypted with BitLocker, the password or recovery key is required to access the drive on any device. Note that if you want to access this external drive on a Mac device, you should first turn off its BitLocker protection on a Windows PC or use a BitLocker Reader for Mac to help unlock this drive directly on Mac, because Mac OS does not support BitLocker.

Way 2: Password protect external hard drive on Windows 10 using VeraCrypt

VeraCrypt is the free and powerful third-party encryption software for Windows that can help protect external hard drive with password.

Step 1: Download and install VeraCrypt on your Windows 10 device. When the installation is complete, launch this program and connect your external hard drive to your computer.

Step 2: Click the Create Volume button.

Step 3: Select the option Encrypt a non-system partition/drive and click Next.

Step 4: Select Standard VeraCrypt volume and click Next.

Step 5: On the next page, click the Select Device button, then select the partition letter that represents your connected external hard drive and click OK. Then click Next.

Step 6: Now you are asked to choose how you want to encrypt the volume. The first option will delete all data stored on your external hard drive before encrypting, while the second option will encrypt your external drive and all data stored on it, without deleting anything. Select the option you want and click Next.

Step 7: On the next page, click Next. Then enter a strong password to protect your external hard drive and click Next.

Step 8: On the next page, move your mouse as randomly as possible. When the progress bar is complete, click Next.

Step 9: Click Next > Encrypt. Then just wait until the encryption process is fully complete.

Tips: How to access the password protected external hard drive

Password App For Mac External Hd Windows 10

When the external hard drive has been encrypted with VeraCrypt, you can access this drive by only using the VeraCrypt software. You need to install the VeraCrypt software on the computer from which you need to access the password protected external hard drive. Here are the simple steps.

1. Launch VeraCrypt and connect the external hard drive to the computer.

2. Select any of the drives from the menu, then click Select Device. In the pop-up window, select the external hard disk partition and click OK.

3. Click on Mount in the lower left corner.

4. In the pop-up dialog, enter the password for the external hard drive and click OK.

5. After a short while, the password protected external hard drive is decrypted and mounted on the computer. You can double-click the drive to open it and access all the contents inside it.

Summary

Password App For Mac External Hdd

These are two ways to make an external hard drive password protected in Windows 10. By comparison, it’s much easier to encrypt your hard drive using the BitLocker feature that comes with Windows 10. You have to use a third-party encryption tool only if you use the Home edition of Windows 10 to password protect your external hard drive.

Related Articles

• How to Encrypt Hard Drive in Windows 10 Using BitLocker
• How to Encrypt a USB Flash Drive for Free
• How to Backup an External Hard Drive before Formatting It
• How to Copy C Drive to External Hard Drive in Windows 10
• How to Backup Computer to External Hard Drive in Windows 10/8/7
• 3 Ways to Check If Your Hard Drive Is SSD or HDD in Windows 10

julien092 wrote:

Then, is there an option to test quickly all the possibilities of password (as a brutefoce tool) ? I read that break a FileVault encryption is really hard. Also, if I format my external hard drive, is it possible to attempt to recover my data using a recovery software, and even though my EHD was encrypted ?

If it were possible to curcumvent the encryption, what would be the use of it? So, no on that. And I doubt Apple would allow a discussion on brute force techniques.

Apr 16, 2016 6:40 AM