I have a shared external HDD with my family and want to encrypt/secure my data. Now we already have a software that password protects the overall hard drive but once the HDD is accessed, all folders and files are viewable. I know the long route of 7zipping a folder and assigning a password but it takes a really long time to just zip a file, 150GB+ data can take almost 9-10 hours to just create a zip file not to mention deleting the files are the zip is created. Is there any way that can help me encrypt a folder on an already encrypted drive?
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1Welcome to Software Recommendations! Could you please edit your question to include what OS you are using, and whether the software must be free (or how much you'd be willing to spend at max)? The file system used might also be of interest. There are several solutions, from container based (like Veracrypt in Romeo's answer) to file based, which may apply based on that.– Izzy ♦Sep 17, 2021 at 19:07
2 Answers
One possible solution is VeraCrypt. You can use file (or partition) which you can mount as disk drive. It is very secure and very stable software. And its free.
To add a bit more info: veracrypt is available for Windows, MacOS, Linux, FreeBSD, Raspberry Pi OS.
P.S. No affiliation with developers of this product.
I rather suggest encryption of individual files or directories. You can decrypt them specifically when you need them, without having to decrypt all files. This encryption is slower than a hard disk encryption, but much more targeted. Possible solutions are Cryptomator, File Lock PEA, AESCrypt.