Question About DriveCrypt PP

Luv2besecure was speaking about this software before the holidays and i had a couple of questions i could not find the answers to on their webpage.

1) What happens if i install DriveCrypt PP on my C & D drives, then in 6 months my C drive goes bad. If i get a new drive and reinstall windows and DriveCrypt PP how do I go about gaining access back to my Encrypted D drive? Or is it lost forever?

2) I understand Drivecrypt PP can encrypt the entire C drive including the OS but how or what protection does that give if (God forbid) i get a trojan and someone wishes to access information on my harddrive. If the trojan is active while iam signed on do they have access to the unencrypted information or would any information they steal from me be encrypted and unreadable to them?

Thanks for all your help.
Hope everyone had an enjoyable holiday!
JC

 

JONAS

Not sure I am understaning your question correctly.

If by re-installing windows you mean REFORMATING...the both c and d drives become like new.....an you begin with a fresh os.
ok,,let me say this another way....in the past I have encrypted the entire c drive prior to doing a reformat.....after the format there was nothing left of the "old"

Do wait for others to reply...Lov2B certainly in the person who could answer

 

Actually, let me restate the question another way. My computer has two (2) HardDrives - C with the OS and common programs and D with backed up documents and music. Now if i use DriveCrypt PP and encrypt drives C & D so now BOTH drives are encrypted what happens if Drive C goes down and needs replaced? You see, drive D would still be encrypted and if the data/key file was on the C drive how would i regain access to my D drive? Does this question make more sense? Basically you would have a backup drive that was encrypted and i wonder how one would go about regaining access to that backup drive if one had to install a new drive and re install an OS?

Thanks,
Jonas

 

Hi,

Don't know if you got the answer to your question yet. DCPP includes a provision that allows you to create an "Emergency Repair Disk". I think that the Emergency Repair Disk will allow you to recover your data in most cases.

For a definitive answer, post your question in alt.security.scramdisk (usenet newsgroup). DCPP's author, Shaun Hollingsworth, is a regular contributor there.

You can also find out a great deal about the program by searching for previous posts on "DCPP' in the newsgroup.

 

Hello!

I have been away and had missed your post. Sorry about that.

DriveCrypt Plus Pack......well, it's not so easy to explain all of that on the board.

I will say this: I think you might be better off using DriveCrypt 3.03b and encrypting a couple of partitions on your second drive. That, of course, is if you HAVE DriveCrypt. And then use DCPP on your Boot Drive.

DriveCrypt 3.03b will allow you to encrypt containers as well as partitions. There are size limitations on the containers - none (for all practical purposes) on partitions. DriveCrypt uses simple, conventional, symmetric encryption that utilizes very strong encryption algorithms. If one is using it properly, DriveCrypt can be a fortress.

I would then use DCPP on Drive One. It would keep you completely safe, especially if utilizing the Pre-Boot authentication. There are issues to understand before undertaking this. Nothing difficult, mind you, just things you have to fully understand. The best thing to do, if you haven't already, is to download the DCPP manual which is very thorough. I know you can download the DriveCrypt 3.03b manual off the site, but I'm not sure about DCPP. If you can't find it -- I will send it to you. I'll send my email in a PM.

Using DCPP and DriveCrypt together is a very popular option. It is about as good as you can get for total privacy/security. Wiping free space, etc. becomes rather moot if done right. And that's the key!

Good Luck!
John
Luv2BSecure

 

Hey John & all..thanks for the reply. In regaurd to Drivecrypt PP i saw another product that reports to do the same thing..encrypt an entire drive. The other product is called Encryption Plus Hard Disk 7.0 made by PC Gaurdian. Have you heard of or tested this software? It purports to encrypt the entire drive at 256 AES. I am very interested to hear your opinion on this other software. Thanks for your time and your knowledge.

Jonas

 

Well....I must be honest. I am not a fan of PC Guardian products. Long story and goes back a long time.

Could you even get Encryption Plus Hard Disk? I was under the impression they quit selliing to the consumer and was an enterprise only company now. I also remember them asking an outrageous price for even a small business.

Plus, (pardon the pun) there's problems:

Closed source. They will not release the source code. DriveCrypt made that same unfortunate decision when Shawn took ScramDisk to the commercial level with SecurStar and DriveCrypt. They lost MANY users who had relied on the very secure and easy-to-use ScramDisk. However, that has been rectified in a unique way that satisfied those upset and Sam Simpson is even back to good relations with Shawn.

The Encryption Plus Password Recovery scheme they have pushed so hard in certain magazines makes the product, in my opinion, less secure. It is quite different than the Administrator key retrieval (if so set) in DCPP. It's a simple challenge/response system with PC Guardian. They are really trying to sell the ease-of-retrieval and that's not exactly the first thing most people are looking for. But IT people? That could be exactly what they want to make their jobs easier. To me, it makes the product much less secure than DriveCrypt.

Encryption Plus Hard Disk 7.0 also encrypts partitions on the same drive as the operating system. With DriveCrypt, on the main drive with the OS, you cannot have any extended partitions at all. One drive - encrypted. That's where the use of your second drive comes in. It is too dangerous to use FULL-DISK encryption with partitions - especially encrypted partitions! P.C. Guardian is taking taking the risk - DriveCrypt does not. They seem to fully understand the inherent dangers in full disk encryption on a drive with partitions. To me, that says a lot.

The Gartner report. Gartner released a study on the increase in the need for encryption products and "leveled" the companies and their respective products. It is my understanding DriveCrypt was right up there with IBM while PC Guardian was, they didn't call it this, but it means the same thing as "one to watch."

DriveCrypt Plus Pack also worked Rijndael over for a 256-bit encryption scheme. That is what they are offering now. It was originally released at the standard 128-bit (plenty strong enough for Rijndael) strong encryption. The whole bit length business is so much marketing hype with encryption products these days.

There IS another excellent product - not sure about consumer availability versus enterprise products, but it is called PointSec.

All in all, it's hard to go wrong with DriveCrypt Plus Pack - especially if you can swing using Good old DriveCrypt3.b with it.

Hope this helped some -- good luck!

John
Luv2BSecure