TrueCrypt 5.0 released -- www.truecrypt.org

[chiral]

The best open-source and free strong encryption solution for data at rest has been updated to version 5.0. Download for Windows/Vista/OS X/Linux at www.truecrypt.org.

Now even more useful for laptop owners as it supports full-disk encryption requiring a strong passphrase to boot.

[syedj]

I have been using Truecrypt on Windows and Linux for a long while now and find it to be excellent way of securing personal data on laptop. I store my personal files, Mozilla/Firefox, Pidgin and Thunderbird profiles in it. This way even if I lose or lend the laptop no one else can get into my personal stuff.

I would highly recommend it for anyone concerned about personal data security on their machines. Its easy to setup and use. There are plenty of How-to's and tutorials out there to set it up. With a little bit of discipline this tool can provide a much needed peace of mind.

[renhui]

what's the difference between this and the included data encryption features on a thinkpad? like the dedicated encryption chip and the securedrive/

[nik]

Does anyone know if there's a performance hit using TrueCrypt?

[syedj]

Does anyone know if there's a performance hit using TrueCrypt?

I have personally used it on laptops as modest as 1.4GHz with 512MB RAM and haven't felt even 1% compromise in performance for normal use. Yes, copying huge files back and forth is a little slower but only marginally so.

[syedj]

what's the difference between this and the included data encryption features on a thinkpad? like the dedicated encryption chip and the securedrive/

I am not familiar with the included data encryption features that IBM/Lenovo provides. As a habit, I usually stay away from highly proprietary applications of such nature. I have heard of too many horror stories of people losing their valuable data by having it permanently locked up by using Windows built-in encryption and not being able to access it at all after moving the encrypted data to a different PC or even re-installing Windows on the same machine.

Truecrypt on the other hand, is highly portable, more robust, open-source and supports Mac OS X, Linux, Windows XP, 2000 and Vista natively. I personally use the same encrypted files on Linux and Windows XP (and Vista when I was using it) without having to do anything extra. Moving from one OS to another is simply copying the encrypted files just like any other files from one machine or drive to another.