Password Protect Your USB Flash Drive in Windows 7

by Miguel · April 10, 2011

Transfer Windows and Installed Data to Another Hard Drive

People are loosing their Portable flash drive just as much as they loose the writing pen. A great new feature is available in windows 7 called Bitblocker that allows any windows 7 user to easily encrypt a USB or flash drive, to protect yourself, the company you represent and More. Keep in mind that the drive is easily replaceable but the information could be priceless.

Here is a step by step Video Tutorial that can help you protect your USB DATA in case it get lost or stolen.

Video Tutorial:

Protect Your USB Flash Drive in Windows 7

Open up My Computer and Right-click on the Flash Drive you want to encrypt and select Turn on BitLocker.

After BitLocker initialized the flash drive you will need to enter in a password to unlock the drive. You can also set up a Smartcard which are usually used in a work environment.

Next you will be prompted to store the recovery key which is used in the event you lose your password or smartcard. If you store it as a file make sure that it is not on the same drive that you’re encrypting.

After the key has been saved as a file or printed you will see a confirmation message.

Finally you will be ready to start encrypting the drive so just click the Start Encrypting button.

While it is encrypting there will be a progress screen displayed.

A successful encryption of the USB flash drive. notice that the drive icon will change to show its encrypted with BitLocker.

Notice that the drive icon will change to show its encrypted with BitLocker where the gold lock indicates it is locked up and the gray lock is displayed after you have unlocked it.

Right-click on that icon to bring up options to manage BitLocker encryption.

The next time you plug in the drive to a Windows 7 machine you will be prompted to enter the password to gain access to the drive.

Note: BitLocker is available only in the Enterprise and Ultimate editions of Windows Vista and Windows 7. Users of other versions of Windows that do not include BitLocker could use a third-party encryption program to satisfy the need for full drive encryption