If you are using one of the above Windows operating systems, you can follow the steps below to password protect external hard drives with Windows BitLocker.

Pro, Enterprise, and Education editions of Windows 10.

Pro and Enterprise editions of Windows 8 and 8.1.

Ultimate and Enterprise editions of Windows Vista and Windows 7.

It is designed to protect data by providing encryption for entire volumes. You can password protect external hard drives by turning on BitLocker. Password protect external hard drive with Windows BitLocker Considering the security of your data, you should encrypt and password protect the external hard drive to prevent ulterior motives from stealing your data. An external hard drive can contain important and sensitive files, including private personal information, family photos, tax and financial information, credentials, and more. The external hard drive is becoming more and more popular because it is small, large in capacity and easy to carry. You can use an external hard drive to back up files, free up space on SSD/HDD, or transfer files, especially large files, from one computer to another. An external hard drive is equivalent to mobile storage that performs data storage by simply connecting it to a computer.

So if your external hard drive stores important data, you should encrypt and password protect the drive. Unfortunately, by default, they can be accessed from any computer they are connected to.

They’re also useful for quickly sharing large amounts of data between work computers, since USB transfers are faster than using the Internet. Many are taken on the go, especially for business workers with large or time-sensitive files They can be taken from home to work and vice versa without having to carry an entire computer with you. Check How to Password Protect External Hard DriveĮxternal hard drives are extremely useful due to their portability.

Password protect external drive