Portable Folder Lock For External Hard Disk

[Lane Frisch]

Whenyour external hard drive is used to save confidential files, putting the drive aside and avoiding using it is a normal way to secure your files. However, an even smarter way that you can apply is to lock your external hard drive on a Windows computer.

On this page, we'll provide you with two popular ways to lock an external hard drive in Windows 11/10/8/7. Follow and learn how to lock your external hard drive, keeping everything safe on your own now. Provided methods also work to lock a USB flash drive, SD cards, and even local hard drives in Windows computers.

Microsoft added a device encryption tool inside its operating system, which is named BitLocker. Windows users can apply it to encrypt and protect a drive or an external hard drive by setting password protection.

The other easier way to protect your essential files in the external hard drive is turning to reliable file locker software. EaseUS LockMyFile was newly released by EaseUS software for password-protecting files, folders, and even local or external hard drives.

Step 1. Download and install EaseUS LockMyFile on your computer. For the first time setup, enter a strong authentication password for use, and a valid email address for password retrieval in case you forgot the password. You can change the password anytime in "Settings".

Step 2. To lock files or folders on an external device, navigate to the "External Disk" section and then click "Locking File". Next, on the right menu, choose the "Lock File(s)" or "Lock Folder" option.

Wait patiently, when the process completes, your files or folders on the external hard drive will be locked into a folder with the same file name in the .exe extension. It won't be accessible unless you unlock it.

If your laptop is stolen, the thief can boot up your computer from a removable device and access your files. Or, they can remove the hard disk, install it on another computer, and gain access to all of your files and personal data.

Keep your data safe with Avast BreachGuard. If your passwords or other personal data are ever leaked online, BreachGuard will warn you ASAP. That way, you can regain control of your accounts before anyone has the chance to log in with your credentials.

Folder Lock comes with a powerful file shredder and a cloud-based backup solution as well. The demo is free, while the full-version is $39.95. Knowing how to lock a folder in Windows costs a bit of money, but the functionality and customization makes it worth it. Now you know how to password protect a folder.

You can also use disk-encryption software for more robust security than just a password. These tools block even the most advanced brute-force attacks, which try to crack passwords and encryption keys using different combinations.

This kind of full-encryption software adds an extra layer of security by incorporating both password and encryption protection to your files, meaning that the actual contents of files and folders are encrypted and protected by much stronger and more complex decryption keys.

With support for AES, Serpent, and TwoFish keys, VeraCrypt is a free, cross-platform data security tool that can encrypt files very effectively. VeraCrypt comes with full disk encryption but can encrypt at the volume (folder) level as well. Users can decide whether they want specific folders encrypted or entire systems.

Password protection is like locking something in a safe, like a highly sensitive document. Encryption is like rearranging all the letters in a document so that they can only be placed back in the correct order if you have a special decoder key.

You should password protect files because if you share your computer with others, someone might accidentally delete or modify an important file, or even share a private folder. You might even make the critical error yourself, accidentally sending sensitive information to the wrong person.

Sharing a computer is not a problem if you add a password to your most sensitive files. Entering a password every time you access that file may slow you down a bit, but the added security is worth it.

And you can always use Windows to encrypt an entire folder, as described above. Knowing how to password protect a folder and how to encrypt your files is key to making sure your content is locked up tight.

Consider what might happen if you lost your master password, if your encryption software got corrupted, or if the files themselves got lost. Backing up your data regularly and using a password manager can help ensure that never happens. You can even clone your entire hard drive to an external storage device.

A portable external hard drive or USB flash drive may be your usual choice to store or back up data. To secure some sensitive data of it, you may either choose to encrypt the whole drive or password protect a folder on drive. Here this article will show you how to protect folder with password on external hard drive or USB flash drive in 5 ways.

As a built-in encryption tool in Windows, BitLocker can help you encrypt the entire external hard drive or USB flash drive including all your files and folders with a password. Here you can follow these steps.

Step 3: When a recovery key is created, choose a location to back it up in case your password is forgotten or lost. Next, choose to encrypt the entire drive/the used drive space and the encryption mode according to your need.

iSumsoft USBCode is an easy-to-use and effective tool used to encrypt, decrypt, lock and unlock an external hard drive or USB flash drive. Compared with BitLocker, it is a faster and more secure way to protect the folder in external hard drive or USB flash drive with a password. Here are the steps.

Step 1: Insert your external hard drive/USB flash drive to Computer and click the refresh button on the upper right. Then choose the connected device once it is detected and displayed in iSumsoft USBCode.

Once encrypted, your connected drive will be locked even when it is removed from your Computer. Moreover, the contents of your drive will be hidden from being accessed unless you unlock and decrypt it with a correct password.

One of ways to protect folder with password is using command to create a batch file in your folder. This batch file will help you lock and hide your folder without any software. To protect your folder more securely, we suggest you encrypt folder using a professional file protection tool instead of just locking it.

Step 6: Double-click the private.bat to open a Command window. Then input Y and press Enter button. This will protect your folder with a password and make it invisible in a moment.

WinRAR is a zip tool that can help you compress a folder and encrypt the zip folder with a password. Since this way only support encrypting zip folder instead of original folder, a professional encryption software which can protect both zip/original file is more recommended. button.

iSumsoft FileCarer is a powerful data security tool that makes it easy to protect sensitive information on Windows. Compared with creating a locker batch file, iSumsoft FileCarer enables you to encrypt a single folder or file with a password on local or external hard drive within simple clicks, which can be the fastest and most convenient way for data protection. Here you can install iSumsoft FileCarer and launch the program on your Computer.

To protect folder on external/USB drive with password using iSumsoft FileCarer, enter Encrypt part and choose the folder you want to password protect on the drive. Then just enter your preferred password and hit Encrypt button at the right bottom.

I used lockMyDrive software in order to lock my external hard drive. The software locates the interface, where the user should insert the password, in the external hard drive itself. Everything was good until one day I accidentally deleted this .exe file. I know the password but there is no interface to insert this password.

I tried to install the software again but it did not recognize the password. I even tried to create another account but it did not allow me. The hard drive looks empty (no files at all are shown) although there are around 200 GB stored there out of 250GB total space. When I check the properties I can see there is 200GB full but when I open it there is nothing there. It used to be like this but when I open it there is this .exe file where I can open it and unlock the drive and then all files and folders appear.

Someone advise me to use some tools that extract data at the bit level. In fact I'm not sure if that is a good advice as I'm no expert in these tools. Another friend advised to use any tool and decrypt data you might get your data or you might double encrypt it instead, just give it a shot!

The data in my HD drive is all very valuable of 10 years archive. I cannot take a chance. I know I should have had another copy. To be honest I used to have a copy on my computer and a copy on the hard drive. It is just my bad luck that the accident happened in the week in which I formatted my computer.

It was tough decision which one to buy. Given the notes above I decided to buy Mini Tool. I here let you know that I recovered 223GB of my files. I cannot tell that I recovered every single file was locked as it is impossible to remember what was there. But after skimming the recovered data, I can say the only noticable loss the files names (renamed in sequence such as file1, file2 ... etc.).

You should not delete anything from the disk or modify it in any way, because such an actioncould void any chance of recovering the data. You should also not have reinstalled Lockmydrive,because that probably lost the information about the hidden files.You should rather have installed Lockmydrive on another computer and returned the deleted .exe.

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