raywood - 2019-02-05

Using VeraCrypt in Windows 10, I propose to encrypt drive C, the system partition, and drive D, the data partition, both of which are on a solid-state drive (SSD). I want both partitions to auto-dismount after a certain period of inactivity, but the periods differ for each drive.

Where drive C is encrypted, the VeraCrypt options to auto-dismount seem to imply shutting down the system. I might set that to happen after, say, an hour of mouse and keyboard inactivity. Or maybe I would just set Windows to sleep or hibernate at that point. But I don't want drive C to auto-dismount during that hour.

Meanwhile, I want drive D to auto-dismount after 20 minutes of disk inactivity. The reason is that I can spend several hours working solely in a browser, or in files saved on an unencrypted USB drive, and I would prefer not to leave D open during all that time.

The options in VeraCrypt 1.23 do not seem to allow these sorts of variations for individual partitions. In particular, "Auto-dismount volume after no data has been read/written to it for ____ minutes" would either shut down drive C too soon or would keep drive D up too long. It seems my best option would be to set hibernation for an hour, to take care of drive C, and look for some other way to shut down D after 20 minutes of disk inactivity. But what would that other way be?

P.S. I see an indication that "VeraCrypt does not dismount encrypted system volumes." Am I correct in understanding that this means I could not use these options (e.g., auto-dismount after no data has been read/written for ____ minutes on drive C in any case?

 

Last edit: raywood 2019-02-05