I want a disk encryption tool for my Laptop running Windows 7. It has three partitions. Since TrueCrypt is no longer supported, I can go with VeraCrypt. But I don't know how much it has been scrutinized by the community. The other alternative is to buy Jetico BestCrypt Volume Container. It costs around 99$. But this is closed source and I don't know how secure it is. Jetico is a Finnish company so I suppose it is free from encryption backdoor or encryption weakening laws. Please advise me which one has a good track record and can be trusted. Secondly, on my laptop, primary Windows partition (C) is 175 GB. Second and third partitions are each of 65 GB. How much time it will take to encrypt the disk? What precautions to take before using disk encryption tool?
Your biggest issue is probably that VeraCrypt does not have a fully tested/supported GPT/EFI solution for the system disk, although that's been in progress a while, it's quite hard. VeraCrypt is built on the already audited TrueCrypt, and indeed, have fixed many of the vulnerabilities mentioned in the audit. Jetico has a good reputation, and on paper, is about as good as you'll get for closed source and proprietary - I've nearly used it for standard commercial purposes rather than Bitlocker (where Bitlocker isn't available for that edition). And, talking Bitlocker - precisely what's your objection to that, given that you're already running a huge MS operating system?! That could easily write out stuff to the 100M reserved area?! Bitlocker's actually the least of my worries, for business-type risks, in comparison with the operating system (and its myriad updates), and it has the merit of not taking up extra drive letters. Encryption time's quite dependent on cpu and disk type, but disks the size you're talking about would normally be complete in a few hours. Precautions are the obvious ones, whatever product you choose - you backup the header/keys; and you backup your data first(!) Also obviously, attention is needed to physical security with these things. You should also decide whether you want pin+usb-key to unlock.
For a business laptop Bitlocker is a great option, but does the OP have a version of 7 that supports it?? I also ran Jetico stuff for years as well. Both are excellent products where protecting business privacy or its equivalent is the goal. If you want to protect beyond that, say at the 3 letter agency level, the actual MS OS (in my opinion) is a starting point for where to re-configure. VeraCrypt code appears to be solid but as a disclaimer I need to confess that I have totally left windows for system disk operations. I keep a family windows system running but I don't intend to use it for anything where true security is needed. I wouldn't even use that but I need to stay "in touch" enough to help extended family with their continual issues. If my opinion matters, let it be known that I almost exclusively use VeraCrypt for my external archives. I access and create the encrypted drives using the Linux flavor of VC, but the created product is the same.
