The Compact USB flash drive is the preferred mobile storage device for many friends. However, because of its small size, the USB flash drive is also very easy to lose, and the important data and information stored in it may be leaked. Although encryption software can be used for protection, it is troublesome. This problem has also plagued xiaobian for a long time. After using Windows 7, we found that a feature in Windows 7 could encrypt our USB flash drive.
In Vista, The BitLocker security function is available, while in Windows 7, the BitLocker function is more powerful. You do not need to modify complicated settings such as group policies, you only need to log on to Windows 7 as an administrator. After the USB flash drive is inserted, right-click the USB flash drive in "computer" and select "enable BitLocker" in the pop-up menu ".
In this case, a "BitLocker drive encryption" Wizard will pop up. Select the method to unlock the drive as needed. We recommend that you select "unlock the drive with a password ". After entering the password twice in a row (the password must contain at least 8 characters), click "Next ".
Select unlock Mode
To prevent forgetting the password, BitLocker allows you to create a recovery key and save it to another drive or print it for retention. If you choose to save the key, you will get a file named "BitLocker recovery key ***. txt text file.
Generate a recovery key
Click "enable encryption" and BitLocker will encrypt your USB flash drive. The time required for this process is determined by the size of the Encrypted USB flash drive and the size of the storage file.
BitLocker is encrypting the drive
After the encryption is complete, go back to the drive list and you will see that our USB flash drive has been "locked!
USB flash disk encrypted
After you insert the USB flash drive into your computer, a prompt box "BitLocker drive encryption" will pop up. You can use the USB flash drive normally only after you enter the correct password.
Enter the password to unlock the USB flash drive
When you use a USB flash drive encrypted by BitLocker in Windows 7 and insert it into the Windows XP system, it is also protected by BitLocker encryption. Unlike Windows 7, you can enable the USB flash drive in Windows XP, however, the files in the file must have a correct password before they can be opened in the form of "BitLocker To Go reader". Therefore, if you are not installed with Win 7, you do not have To worry about using the Encrypted USB flash drive.