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Home  > RAIDs, and Various Disk and Volume Managers  > BitLocker Drive Encryption

BitLocker Drive Encryption


BitLocker Drive Encryption , or BitLocker , is a data protection feature introduced by Microsoft since Windows Vista. It implements some hard/software measures to encrypt either USB external flash drives or internal system SSD/HDD devices. You may read more about BitLocker Drive Encryption on the Microsoft site or Wikipedia .

 

There are following encryption methods (protectors in the Microsoft terms) that can be utilized in the BitLocker protection:

• A TPM/TPM+PIN chip

• A USB key (a flash drive containing a .bek file)

• A user's password (not to confuse with a user's logon password) / recovery key

These methods can be used either individually or as a combination thereof. If they are used as a combination, knowing the decryption information for only one method is enough to unlock the device.

 

R‑Drive Image can unlock devices encrypted with BitLocker provided that all the necessary information is known.

 

Important: When you backup a BitLocker volume as a part of its hard drive, it will be backed up locked. When you back up the BitLocker volume form the BitLocker section, it will be backed up unlocked if the system has already unlocked it, or R‑Drive Image will ask for its password/key to unlock the volume.

BitLocker ToGo

This is the method used to lock external removable devices. The password or a recovery key is necessary to know to unlock the device. A recovery key may be in the printed form or contained in a file. A name of such a file has the following pattern: BitLocker Recovery Key 600397A9-48AA-4DE4-B775-C71EB130EA1B.txt , where the last characters is the BitLocker volume identifier. That file contains the BitLocker volume identifier and a recovery key.

Click to enlarge

Locked BitLocker ToGo volume

 

Double-click the locked BitLocker volume and enter its password or recovery key.

Click to enlarge

BitLocker ToGo volume's password/key

> R‑Drive Image will unlock the volume
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BitLocker ToGo volume's password/key

BitLocker System Drive Encryption

This is the method used to lock internal system drives.

Depending on what methods are used, the following information is necessary to know to unlock the drive.

• A recovery key in the printed form or in a file. A name of such a file has the following pattern: BitLocker Recovery Key FDA7B96C-635E-45AA-BE63-00C3DB3771EE.txt , where the last characters is the BitLocker volume identifier. That file contains the BitLocker volume identifier and a recovery key.

• A password used to start the preboot process. It shouldn't be confused with the password for the user's logon.

To unlock a system drive with a BitLocker partition ,

Click to enlarge

BitLocker System Drive Encryption

Double-click the locked BitLocker Partition and enter its password or recovery key.

Click to enlarge

BitLocker System Drive Encryption

> R‑Drive Image will unlock the partition
Click to enlarge

BitLocker System Drive Encryption

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