FREE open source hard drive encryption software

While listening to Leo Laporte radio talk show I learned that there are two super safe ways to protect the data on a hard drive from being read by others -- even if they stole your computer or had ill-intentions.

For Windows Vista/XP, Mac OS X, and Linux, one excellent way to protect your data is through hard drive encryption which is enabled through your BIOS. You get to it by booting your computer and pressing the required key to get into the BIOS settings. Commonly the key is [F2] or [Del]. As it turns out not all laptops have hard drive password protection in BIOS.

Enter FREE open source hard drive encryption software called TrueCrypt from http://www.truecrypt.org. Version 5.1 offers whole drive encryption - encrypts entire drive. It's industrial strength, military strength. NOBODY can access the data or crack the encryption. You must enter pass phrase to key encryption. They say there is ZERO performance effect. It works on any computer desktop or laptop. You can undo the encryption if you ever want to convert back to an open drive. No force known can crack encryption. I'm thinking you can sleep a little more easily knowing that your sensitive hard drive data will not ever be easily accessed. You can travel with your laptop and even if it gets stolen, the dasterdly thugs won't get the data if that's what they were after.

Cons: You must NEVER forget your password. Nothing can replace your pass phrase.

Pros: FREE! You can create a virtual drive C without password and the another D partition would be encrypted. Reads and writes just like a regular drive. Rebooting relocks. It's described as great for government agencies or corporations. Can even lock USB flash drives. How awesome is that!

Source: Steve Gibson, security expert, from grc.com on Leo Laporte's TWIT show. Steve also has a podcast called Security Now that you can listen to where he speaks more on Truecrypt product.