shed computer - mac ppc running linux

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

That is all rather worrying I must say,....must look into getting/using this Bit locker then.

I remember the first time I pulled a hard drive out of a corrupted windows machine...I was shocked I could just read all the data!!!!!

If you are lucky your motherboard will either have a TMP modules already (in which case you just need to turn it on in windows)....or you can buy the module on fleabay for just a few quid and install it.

My Windows7 machine had to be upgraded to "ultimate edition" and then I could use it....without the TMP it's a faff to use and in the end I just changed the machine!

I'd say if you are working with anyone elses personal information (in a work context) then really that machine should have bit locker installed and running.

 

[earthman]

If your motherboard does have TMP modules and you turn them on, what do they do exactly? And more to the point, when a thief removes the hard drive from that motherboard, how are those TMP modules still protecting it??

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

In terms of how it does it....yea thats above my pay grade.

I think the TMP itself is basically the hardware that does the encrypting/decrypting (but I could be wrong on that!) but it only does this if it's given the windows password when you login to the machine. If the TPM gets stolen its useless without the windows password. The drive itself is basically encrypted data when the TPM is used...it can't be read directly!

When you activate BitLocker it generates a long password key that you need to keep secure. Basically if anything goes wrong with the hardware or windows I think the "key" is the only way to decrypt the drive itself from scratch...for example if you put the drive in a totally new machine.

I only know this because I thought I'd be clever and move an encrypted drive from 1 machine to another (thinking I could get round the encryption)...it didn't work and I was asked to enter the original key....which of course I couldn't find anywhere!!!

 

[slim_boy_fat]

I'm not particularly computer-savvy, but I've read data on a drive removed from another pc using one of those USB > to other connecter types, SATA, etc - and that's using using Windows 7 but iirc it worked when I was using XP before upgrading the pc to 7. My laptop has Win10 but I've not need to try it on there.

I've even brought discs back to like for folk who thought they'd lost all their files. It can do desktop and the smaller laptop discs.

 

[Seadog]

Not with encryption, SBF. I, too, have done it loads of times. Most recently when I stuffed the boot files on my W10 Pro box. That now has a mirrored system disc and nirrored NAS for all data.

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

Bit locker is basically encrypting the disc data itself...ie the individual "bits" of data on the drive itself.

The TPM is essentially a modern day "Enigma" machine...having the encrypted data and/or having the enigma machine (ie TPM) doesn't help if you don't have the cypher to decode it.

When you switch on BitLocker you basically create the cypher for that TPM only.