External USB Hard Drive: Encrypt Entire Drive, Partition, or File Container?
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Previously, I encrypted the entire hard drive. Some how it got corrupted, and I lost all my data. What is the safer way to encrypt data on an external hard drive without losing my data again?
Which option is best to not corrupt my data again? What type of paritition should I use for each of the above sceanrios? What software should I use to set up these parititions?
I'm using Windows 10 and Seagate External Hard Drive USB 3.0, Black (STDR2000100).
Last edit: Ramzi 2017-05-15
As always, have backups of your data due to hardware failure, software issues or user error can cause loss of access to the volume even when you are not using encryption.
For non-system encrypted volumes, I recommend making an external backup of the header. Click on Volume Tools button.
I recommend using a partition to prevent Windows from prompting you to format the device.
You can use a file container if you want portability.
Last edit: Enigma2Illusion 2017-05-15
Good idea. What type of partition should I use? NTFS? Which tool should I use to partition the drive? I want to make a separate partition which is NOT encrypted for non-sensitiev files.
Or I can just use an encrypted file container within the unencrypted drive.
Last edit: Ramzi 2017-05-17
I would use NTFS. For the size of your device being > 1 TB, I would use the format tool provided by your hardware manufacturer to restore the drive to factory fresh state as if you just bought the drive.
What size is your encryption volume?
Last edit: Enigma2Illusion 2017-05-17
I'm thinking to make the encrypted partitino about 1 TB, and the non-encrypted portion of the drive the remaining 800 or so GB.
Should I make one big NTFS partition and then create a Veracrypt file container? Or should I make two NTFS partitinos using some software tool, and encrypt one of them?
You can use Windows Disk Management to create the two partitions. You can Google seach how-to if you are not sure how to use Disk Management to create the partitions.
In my opinion, it is a personal choice regarding your question to encypt the partition verses creating a large file container.
FAQ:
Which type of VeraCrypt volume is better – partition or file container?
File containers are normal files so you can work with them as with any normal files (file containers can be, for example, moved, renamed, and deleted the same way as normal files). Partitions/drives may be better as regards performance. Note that reading and writing to/from a file container may take significantly longer when the container is heavily fragmented. To solve this problem, defragment the file system in which the container is stored (when the VeraCrypt volume is dismounted).
Can I do this on an external drive that already has full drive encryption with Veracrypt? (Split into two partitions). Or do I have to decrypt entire drive, then shrink one parittion, and make a second partition, then encrypt again.
You will need to decrypt, perform the shrink, split into two partitions and encrypt the data on partition one.
Great, thanks. Problem solved.