

To access them again, you need to first authenticate yourself to unlock the drive, typically by providing the correct password.ĭata decryption is then done on the fly with little to no measurable performance impact, making BitLocker encryption, not just effective but also convenient. When you enable BitLocker encryption, all data on the encrypted volume turn into a seemingly random digital noise.

In fact, BitLocker uses the same encryption that many military and government organizations do, the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES). The purpose of this feature is to allow users to easily encrypt entire volumes of data, such as the system drive, using a strong encryption algorithm. But encryption can be a double-edged sword because it can stop not just the bad guys but also legitimate users.įirst introduced in Windows Vista (released in January 2007), BitLocker is a full volume encryption feature that has since then been included with every version of the Windows operating system (but not Home editions).


