A hard drive or a hard disk drive is a storage utility for keeping all the digital data in your computer. It stores data by encoding it magnetically by write/read heads that float on an air cushion above the rotating rigid platters. With so much of your data on the hard disk, you need to be careful regarding its security as there are chances that it might be stolen or lost. Therefore, you will need to consider the option of protecting your hard drive with passwords. This article will explain different methods and elaborate on how to password protect a hard drive.
Password protecting an external hard drive:
As a computer user you will need some form of security for the sensitive information stored on your PC.
Follow these easy steps and learn how to password protect a hard drive:
- You will have to first choose the type of software you want to use to do this. There are several free software available on the internet for free download. However, you will have to pay for some of them.
- Once you have purchased or downloaded the software, connect the hard drive to your computer, install it and save the software on your hard disk.
- Now, follow the instructions of the software to protect your hard drive.
- It will ask you to choose a password for securing your files on the hard disk. Choose a password that is easy to remember, but it should not be so common that anyone else may guess it.
- Once you have set the password, check whether the password protection has been successful.
- You can do this by connecting the hard drive to another computer and trying to access it.
- If it prompts you for a password, then your password protection has been successful.
Password protect a USB drive:
An external USB hard drive allows you to mobilize your files from one computer to another. However, there is always the risk of your data getting lost or stolen and could land you in serious trouble. Follow these simple steps to password protect a hard drive:
- Connect the hard disk drive to your computer using a USB port.
- Now, click on “My Computer” in the Start menu of your computer.
- In the “My Computer” window, search for the icon of your USB hard drive and double-click it.
- Move your mouse to the blank area of the window and do a right-click. Select the “New Folder” option to create a new folder and name it appropriately.
- Select all the files and programs from your hard drive and drag them in this new folder.
- Do a right-click on the new folder and select “Properties” where you will see a “Sharing” option. You will see a box “Make this folder private”; check it.
- Finally, click on the OK tab to save the changes. The process of password protecting your hard drive is complete.
- Now you can double click the folder again and try to access it. You will now be prompted to type in the password each time you access the folder.
Password protect a hard drive in Mac:
You can protect a hard drive using a password in your Mac computer; just follow these simple instructions:
- Click on the Apple menu and select the option labeled “Control Panel”.
- Here you will see a Password Security control panel; click on it again.
- Now, click the Setup button where you will be asked to select a password.
- You will have to type it twice to confirm it. You can also choose the option of “Also ask when waking from sleep” if you have the PowerBook laptop.
- You can also set a hint for your password, in case you don’t remember what password you set earlier.
- Finally, close the control panel to save the changes and your hard drive has been password protected.
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