i see when i boot i have the option to bypass pre-boot authentication by pressing esc key. What does this do. Its hard to find alot of information on truecrypt
That key is for when you have a dual boot OS and you only fully encrypt one of them. For example you may have Mandriva/Windows and you encrypt Windows, then click the ESC key while booting up the computer and your unencrypted Mandriva OS will start. By the way, IMO the best source of information for Truecrypt it is their help manual included with the software, it is one of the best I have ever come accross.
i see what about if you have two hdd's that have windows vista installed on them and you normally boot from whichever one you need first and you truecrypt both of them do you still have the choice of which one you want to boot from first during startup
I don't know if Truecrypt boot manager can do that, but I believe you could do it with GAG the Graphical Boot Manager, which I reccomend to anyone who has multiple operating systems on the same computer, encrypted or unencrypted.