aes 256 encryption

[gadgetfreak7777]

How do i encrypt aes 256 encryption on my samsung 850 pro? 

In the magician software there are three options for encrytion

1.class 0

2.TCG opal

3.encrypted drive

 

[mikat]

18 minutes ago, gadgetfreak7777 said:

How do i encrypt aes 256 encryption on my samsung 850 pro? 

In the magician software there are three options for encrytion

1.class 0

2.TCG opal

3.encrypted drive

 

just use bitlocker (pro versions of windows only)

[gadgetfreak7777]

1 minute ago, mikat said:

just use bitlocker (pro versions of windows only)

how do i enable aes 256? isn't it much stronger?

[mikat]

1 minute ago, gadgetfreak7777 said:

how do i enable aes 256? isn't it much stronger?

why would you need it in the first place

(and bitlocker has 128 bit and 256 bit AES encryption )

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BitLocker

[EmeraldFlame]

If you don't have a pro version of windows, since the normal versions don't have BitLocker, you can use VeraCrypt. VeraCrypt is an open-source encryption program that supports various encryption methods. VeraCrypt was originally based upon TrueCrypt. After TrueCrypt was abandoned a new team took up the reigns, had a security audit done, and addressed the problems they found. It's a great and free product.

[LAwLz]

If you are OK with using Bitlocker and meet all the requirements for the eDrive standard (right UEFI version, Windows 8 or 10, TPM or USB key at hand, etc) then use that. Since the 850 is eDrive complaint it will be hardware accelerated.

 

You just need to turn on Bitlocker and it should work straight away. The data is already encrypted on the drive so assuming the entire chain is complaint, you should not get some progress bar showing long much time is left until everything is encrypted. It should be instant.

 

 

If that's not an option then it gets a bit trickier. It seems like self encrypting drives is a minefield right now. A lot of stuff don't work as it should. The thing is that your drive is already encrypted. The data on it is encrypted, but there is no password set to access the data. Here is my understanding of how the different options in the Samsung software works.

 

Class 0 is just a good old ATA password. The way the ATA password is saved depends on the motherboard vendor, but overall it seems rather unsecure.

 

TCG Opal is a standard from TCG. I am not entirely sure how it works but it seems like the idea is that there is a mini OS that boots first, prompts the user for a password and then when that's inputted the drive will be be able to decrypt itself and boot your regular OS. I am not sure if that's entirely how it works though.

 

The "encrypted drive" option will enable Bitlocker to be used in conjuction with the self encryption (so that it is fully hardware accelerated).

 

All three uses AES 256. The difference is how the password is managed. TCG Opal should in theory be the best since it is both BIOS/UEFI and OS independent, but according to some users that might not be the case.

 

By the way, do a backup of any data you might want to save on the drive. Once you enable the password, all data is lost if you forget it.

 

 

You could also use VeraCrypt as someone else suggested. The problem with that is it lacks support for hardware acceleration, so performance will be a lot lower.