Encrypt A U.S.B. Stick With VeraCrypt
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- čas přidán 23. 07. 2024
- In this tutorial, we fully encrypt a blank U.S.B. stick using VeraCrypt, a free cross-platform encryption utility. Whilst we’ve featured BitLocker in a previous video, it is exclusively available on Windows 10, and only provides writable volumes in Windows 10 Pro, whereas VeraCrypt will work on any version of Windows, as well as macOS, Linux and Raspberry Pi.
We walk through the downloading and installation of VeraCrypt, using it to create a new volume on our U.S.B. drive, examining each of the potential configuration options, before formatting the drive.
We will then explore how to access the drive after encryption, and, in particular, we will differentiate between the now unreadable physical drive, and the encrypted virtual drive. Finally, we will show how to dismount the encrypted drive and eject the physical drive.
Before undertaking this tutorial, please be aware that (1) the steps shown will fully erase the content of your U.S.B. drive, and you should ensure that any data stored on it is transferred to a suitable backup drive and (2) the process shown is time-consuming, and we would recommend setting aside at least two hours of computer time for the formatting process to take place.
Topics covered:
00:00 Introduction
00:19 Using BitLocker as an alternative
00:32 VeraCrypt homepage and download links
01:14 Dealing with unverified apps
01:35 Choose where to get apps
01:57 Suppressing User Account Control
02:13 Language selection
02:21 Licence terms
02:29 Full and Portable installation options
02:35 Installation location and further options
02:51 Installation process
03:14 Running VeraCrypt
03:19 Main interface and inserting the U.S.B. drive
03:25 Determining the drive letter
03:44 Creating a new volume
03:45 Volume Creation Wizard
03:48 Encrypting a non-system partition/drive
04:00 Standard and hidden volumes
04:11 Volume location
04:47 Create and encrypt volume or encrypt in place
05:05 Encryption algorithm
05:14 Drive size
05:24 Password entry and confirmation
05:46 Working with large files
06:06 Randomness via mouse movement
06:23 Formatting
06:49 Accessing the drive in future
07:16 Using the prepared U.S.B. drive
07:32 How Windows now treats the drive
07:53 How to access the encrypted drive
07:58 Mounting the encrypted drive
08:02 Selecting the device
08:13 Mapping the physical drive to an encrypted virtual drive letter
08:21 Mounting the selected disk
08:28 Password entry
08:36 Accessing the drive via the newly-allocated drive letter
09:00 Using the encrypted drive
09:06 Dismounting the encrypted volume
09:19 Ejecting the physical drive
09:33 Using the drive in on each future occasion
Related tutorials:
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Video Links:
VeraCrypt (Encryption Utility). Free download: www.veracrypt.fr/en/Downloads...
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i just watched 3 other "tutorials" on this very subject. Everyone of them assumed I was a tech savvy person conversant with root drives, exfat, and etc. Plus is was if they were under time constraints to make the video. HOWEVER, THIS IS THE ONLY TUTORIAL THAT SHOWS HOW TO DO IT WITH GRAPHICS AND EXPLANATIONS. VERY USEFUL.
Thank you very much indeed. That’s incredibly kind of you.
this is the best tutorial ive seen for veracrypt on windows so far!
Thank you very much indeed @Ned Harris. That is very kind of you.
Compared with Bitlocker, VeraCrypt is complicated and convoluted. With Bitlocker, the drive appears "padlocked." One simply clicks on it, enter the password, and then it's accessible. Unlike VeraCrypt it's simple and takes seconds.
The video was really good, and I love the voice!
Hi @ @marcse7en, and thank you very much indeed for your kind words about the video. We’re certainly also supporters of BitLocker, and indeed we produced a video on BitLocker slightly before we published the VeraCrypt tutorial. If you’re interested, you’ll find our BitLocker tutorial at czcams.com/video/U0Zpfvt096E/video.html
When we published that video in August 2020, we wrote in the video description “it should be noted that, whilst any version of Windows can read data encrypted using BitLocker, Windows Professional will be required to write to an encrypted drive,” and this was even picked up in the comments by a subscriber who wrote “not everyone has Windows Pro you know.” That set us on a train of thought which led us to VeraCrypt, which is a free, cross-platform and well-respected encryption application.
There’s a lengthy comparison of BitLocker vs VeraCrypt at lifehacker.com/windows-encryption-showdown-veracrypt-vs-bitlocker-1777855025 and our take on it is that there is a place for both of these options, and you can make a choice in accordance with your use case.
We actually use BitLocker daily by default on all of our Windows systems and deploy VeraCrypt very much for one-off secure physical data transfer (and even then almost never), so, taking your point exactly, Bitlocker is also the clear winner for us.
THANK YOU!
I rarely comment, but this video has helped me considerably. Thank goodness.
Thank you very much indeed for taking the time to comment. That’s really appreciated. Glad you found the video useful.
Very helpful tutorial. Loved it!
That’s great. Glad you found it useful.
Thank you so much. Been struggling for days trying to do this.
You are very welcome. Glad you found the content useful.
Very clear explanation! I already subscribed! keep up the good work!
Thank you very much indeed @Mr D. Your support is truly appreciated.
Extremely through. Thank you Sir!
You are very welcome. Thank you very much for your kind words.
Nice tutorial. Subscribed!
Thank you very much indeed.
Excellent guide!
Thank you very much for your kind words about the video. Glad you found the content useful.
wow amazing video, thanks so much.
Thank you very much @Michael Rivas. That is very kind of you.
wow just wow ✌️🙏
Thank you very much indeed.
very nice tutorial! sub from me. one question for years ive never dismounted usb drives before pulling them out and never had a problem, could there be an issue if you pull it out without dismounting it on a encrypted drive?
Hi @Jacob Graham. Thank you very much for your kind words about the tutorial and the sub, both of which are very much appreciated. The reason we’re encouraged to dismount regular U.S.B. drives is simply to prevent the drive being removed part-way through a write operation, which could potentially corrupt the data. You certainly won’t be the only person in the world who doesn’t specifically eject before removing, and this is usually absolutely fine provided that no write operations are still taking place. As you correctly suspect, this situation is greatly magnified when dealing with encrypted volumes, precisely because of the importance of the mounting and dismounting phases covered in our video, so we’d thoroughly recommend following the full dismount procedure when using encrypted volumes, as otherwise the likelihood of data corruption is high.
Hello thank you for very good tutorial video, however i have question.
Let's say i encrypt my USB do i need the same computer to decrypt it or can i use whatever laptop available that has Veracrypt installed? Or do i need some special file or key for that?
And is it possible to open and decrypt / encrypt Veracrypt that all is done through the USB instead of having it installed on the computer?
Hi @Pi Lo. You don’t need the same computer to perform the decryption, and any machine running VeraCrypt will be fine. In terms of performing everything via the U.S.B. stick, rather than installing on a computer, this is entirely possible, albeit with a few small changes…
The U.S.B. stick would need to contain a small unencrypted partition containing the portable version of VeryCrypt. The remainder of the stick would be taken up by an encrypted VeraCrypt file container, hosting whatever content you see fit. You could then insert the U.S.B. stick, run VeraCrypt from the unencrypted portion, then access the encrypted container. This would work in any P.C., without installing software.
Please accept our sincere apologies for the delay in responding to your comment. We have been extensively pursuing activities outside of the CZcams platform for the past six weeks, and consequently we are only now catching up on feedback and questions. Thank you for your patience and understanding.
Thanks for the detailed guide. I have one question. Do you know of any way that i can stop windows from showing me the annoying "format disk" message whenever i insert an encrypted drive?
That’s an interesting question, and, whilst we’ve always simply tolerated the warning, it’s actually far more sensible to attempt to permanently suppress it. Although we haven’t tried any of the solutions referenced in these articles, could we point you in the direction of the following three links, each of which directly addresses this issue:
www.ghacks.net/2017/11/09/block-you-need-to-format-the-disk-message-in-windows/
superuser.com/questions/1377667/avoid-the-you-need-to-format-the-disk-in-drive-f-when-plugging-a-truecrypt-ve
superuser.com/questions/1364977/disable-the-format-disk-dialog
As you’d expect, there’s some discussion about the benefits and drawbacks of the methods described, and whether they are suitable and effective in all instances, so we’ll simply link to that discussion, rather that offering it as a definitive solution, and you may need to experiment in order to determine whether this suits your needs.
@@TechFixFlix i found a solution, i didn't chose the "encrypt a non-system partition/drive" option, i chose the first option "create an encrypted file container, and made its size almost equal to the size of my external drive.
That’s an entirely valid solution to the problem. You could also use the unencrypted portion of the drive to store the portable version of VeraCrypt, which would allow you to plug the U.S.B. stick into any computer (and specifically one which does not have VeraCrypt already installed) then run the portable version of VeraCrypt directly from the stick and use it to access the encrypted file container. All you’d need to do here is leave sufficient free space on the U.S.B. device to store the VeraCrypt portable software in the unencrypted portion of the drive.
Some interesting questions to unpack here @Justin Bilyj. You’re absolutely correct that having VeraCrypt in plain sight could well raise suspicions, but we would counter that almost any of our data could be used against us if it fell into the hands of a third party, and therefore it is simply a sensible precaution to encrypt it when making use of a small portable U.S.B. device which could easily be lost or stolen. We’d be entirely unapologetic if asked why we were carrying any personal or professional data in an encrypted vault. If you are trying to avoid suspicion, you could always hide the VeraCrypt app amongst a group of other apps, where it won’t stand out quite so prominently, or you might like to place it within a .zip file or one or more subdirectories to make it less conspicuous. Also, don’t forget that not everyone knows what VeraCrypt is, so just because the app is present doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ll immediately raise suspicion.
In terms of someone accessing the drive who doesn’t understand the protocol, we’d format the drive as normal so that the person accessing the drive won’t receive an error upon inserting the drive. Rather than encrypting the whole drive as shown in our video, we’d instead “create an encrypted file container” with a save location possibly buried deep in the file structure. Whether you then include a copy of VeraCrypt portable would be a personal choice.
will this work with a system drive from other PC? Computer is broken and need to acces to crypted system disk by setting in on usb
Our instinct here is to say “yes,” in the sense that a drive is a drive, whether it’s a U.S.B. stick, or the C: drive from a Windows P.C. There may be unforeseen complications, given that it’s the main drive of the broken P.C., but we’d assume that you’d be able to physically attach the drive, enter the relevant password and access its content. We’d stress that we haven’t tried this in practice, but theoretically we think it should be possible. Either way, we’d be interested to hear what the outcome was, and any issues you encounter along the way.
My windows was installed on SSD and i encrypted my old hard disk with vera crypt.. Now my Windows got corrupted i just want to know that can i access my encrypted old hardisk on another computer by just installing vera crypt on that pc and attaching old hard disk with it...?
We’d certainly give it a go. Before you do, you might want to check the Documentation section of the VeraCrypt web site, particularly the section on “System Encryption” found at www.veracrypt.fr/en/System%20Encryption.html which offers some valuable information, particularly in relation to creating and using a Rescue Disk when dealing with system drives.
Correct me if I am wrong but the encrypted partition of the flash drive wont be accessible on another secondary computer without the Veracrypt app installed on the secondary computer as well?
That’s absolutely correct, although you could use the portable app on a secondary computer if you want to avoid a permanent installation.
@@TechFixFlix Thanks for getting back to me. I guess I am looking for encryption software that can be installed on a non encrypted flash drive so that the flash drive is wholly dependent on itself like a manufactured encrypted flash drive. It doesn't sound like that is possible right now.
That would be a really interesting project, but we agree with your assessment that it isn’t currently possible. Manufactured drives typically take advantage of hardware-based encryption, with a dedicated physical chip performing the encryption and decryption processes. As a standard U.S.B. drive naturally doesn’t support hardware encryption/decryption, the only way we can provide this functionality is via software. So solutions of the type you’re looking for require hardware integration in the manufacturing process and currently can’t be performed with software alone.
You could create a U.S.B. drive which contains portable VeraCrypt apps in its root directory, as well as an encrypted volume containing the protected data, then simply plug in to the secondary machine and run the VeraCrypt portable app directly from the U.S.B stick to access the encrypted volume. This doesn’t offer the ease of use you’d experience with hardware encryption, but is probably the best option for a software-only approach.
@@TechFixFlix Thank you for this description. I now understand the difficulty in what I was looking for and appreciate your alternative.
You are very welcome.
Decided I wanted to encrypt my 4TB external HDD. Decided to test it out on a smaller 2GB flash drive first. Took about 20 minutes to do the 2GB drive.... any idea how long it's going to take to do a 4TB drive that currently has 2.14 TB of information on it?
Hi @Keinlieb. Whilst we don’t have an exact number for you, as you’ve likely guessed, this will probably require quite a significant investment of time. It might be worth leaving this to run overnight to try to minimise your computer downtime.
@@TechFixFlix yeah, I figured it would take way more than a day. Even possibly longer than a week lol. Think I'll hook it up to a laptop I rarely use and do it that way as I am constantly using my PC. Plus the laptop will also help ensure that I don't lose power during the encryption process.
That’s a very sensible strategy. Hope this works as planned.
Only one question. What do we do if the program VeraCrypt ceases to exist? We entrust our most important files 100% to a free program, with anonymous and free support, for which no one can guarantee that it will work forever. What should I do if I encrypt my files today and the program stops working tomorrow for some reason?
Once you download the program, it works without an internet connection. Even if it were to be withdrawn without notice, you’d still have a copy in your possession which you could use to extract your data. Also, the internet never forgets, and there are copies everywhere, making it impossible to delete every version. Typically, any program reaching the end of its life will give sufficient notice to allow you to make alternative arrangements. All you would need to do is decrypt your data using VeraCrypt and move to an alternative encryption program.
@@TechFixFlix I like that answer. I hope you're right. I have one more question. I'm already in the process of encrypting (15%) but I realized that I chose a password that was too easy. Can I change it later, or do I have to stop and start all over again?
You can indeed change it later, and you can find details of the “Change Volume Password” function by following this link: veracrypt.eu/en/docs/program-menu Hope this helps.
Great video but beware that if you want to encrypt a partition in place, the USB drive must be formatted as NTFS. Your 4G context explanation is very helpful. Also, if you're going to make a rescue disk (stick), that must be formatted for FAT/FAT32. Because it must be stored in the root, you will need 1 for each USB stick you encrypt. I suppose you could store multiple rescue sticks in their own folder and when you need to rescue a specific USB stick, extract that to the root.
@JohnTysonCR. Thank you very much for your kind words about the video, and for the additional information which is very useful.
Genuine question, is there ever a reason to encrypt a rescue stick?
Hi @KznnyL. Our immediate reaction to this is “no,” simply because the rescue disc is the tool which you use to help you gain access to an encrypted disc. Also, were the rescue disc to be encrypted, it would need to be decrypted before use, which would add to the complexity of data restoration. We’re interested in what your use-case scenario is which might require such additional security, particularly given than the rescue disc is password protected. As noted in the overview at veracrypt.eu/en/VeraCrypt%20Rescue%20Disk.html#:~:text=Note%20that%20even%20if%20you%20lose%20your%20VeraCrypt%20Rescue%20Disk%20and%20an%20attacker%20finds%20it%2C%20he%20or%20she%20will%20not%20be%20able%20to%20decrypt%20the%20system%20partition%20or%20drive%20without%20the%20correct%20password “even if you lose your VeraCrypt Rescue Disk and an attacker finds it, [they] will not be able to decrypt the system partition or drive without the correct password.” This in-built password protection likely negates the need for concern in relation to the security of the rescue stick, but we’d love to know what prompted your question.
what happens if you or someone else accidentally clicks yes to the pop up format disk?
We rather think there’s a further safety net, and that formatting doesn’t begin immediately. The standard dialog for formatting a new disk should appear, and the user is required to provide a name and format for the new disk, before acknowledging that all existing data will be erased. Hopefully, these hurdles will stop you from reformatting the drive. There is a weakness here if someone else is using the drive, as they would genuinely believe it to be unformatted. Earlier this week, we responded to a question which asked how to suppress the “format disk” message, and we referenced three articles which addressed this. You may therefore wish to take a look at:
www.ghacks.net/2017/11/09/block-you-need-to-format-the-disk-message-in-windows/
superuser.com/questions/1377667/avoid-the-you-need-to-format-the-disk-in-drive-f-when-plugging-a-truecrypt-ve
superuser.com/questions/1364977/disable-the-format-disk-dialog
@@TechFixFlix so if someone proceeds with the reformatting, all encrypted data will be deleted and the usb can be reusable as if it's brand new? Would I be able to encrypt it again with new Data after reformatting?
Absolutely. Once the U.S.B. stick has been successfully reformatted, you can use it exactly as though it was brand new, including encrypting it for a second time should you so wish. There is one slight caveat here, in that the disk may be a little more difficult to reformat than you might expect, simply as a result of the original encryption, meaning that a simple format might fail. In this scenario, we’d recommend formatting using the method shown in this tutorial czcams.com/video/0GIt1rUgq9g/video.html or using Windows’ Disk Management utility.
Any tutorial to encrypt small part of USB and also cloud like google drive?
Hi @Danni D. Although we haven’t covered it in a specific tutorial, this is absolutely possible. and instead of encrypting the whole stick, we can create an encrypted volume containing our data which does not occupy the entirety of the drive. This is achieved by selecting the upper option at 3:47 in our video to “Create an encrypted file container.” In terms of using this with cloud storage, we’d advocate creating small encrypted file containers and uploading the entire container to the cloud. Hope this helps.
@@TechFixFlix Thanks, but If I need to open the Flash in PC that dont have veracrypt installed? Is Veracrypt can be install in USB flashdisk to open the encrypted files or container?
Hi again @Danni D. This is exactly the scenario in which the VeraCrypt portable app should be used. As a “portable” app, VeraCrypt is run directly from the U.S.B. stick, without needing to be installed to the host computer. In addition to hosting the portable VeraCrypt app, your U.S.B. stick can also host the encrypted file folder, making the U.S.B. stick an all-in-one solution without being reliant upon a host machine to store the app or your data.
@@TechFixFlix Thanks bro....
You are very welcome.
when mounting does it matter what letter we mount on?
It doesn’t, and you have an entirely free choice from all of your unused drive letters. The only limitation is that you can’t use a letter which has already been assigned to another drive.
@@TechFixFlix Thanks Man Appreciate the help subbed and like great tutorial Stay Safe!
That's much appreciated. You stay safe too.
subscribed done
Thank you. That is very much appreciated.