How to encrypt my HDD

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I have my OS (Windows 8.1 regular, not Pro or Enterprise) and all my programs on a SSD, and have two 2TB HDD's for storage. I am wondering what suggestions you guys have for encrypting my entire drive. Or if I have to, each folder individually.

Mainly I want to create a notepad file of my passwords for various accounts I have and heavily encrypt them, as they would be a way for a hacker to get all of my sensitive information. And then I thought, why not just encrypt the whole drive.

Thanks for any feedback.
 
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Iron124

Iron124

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You can encrypt entire folders and subfolders from within windows assuming that your drive is formatted as NTFS.

Right-click a folder with any sensitive information, go to Properties > Attributes (Advanced) > And then click the box that says "Encrypt contents to secure data."
 
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I'm pretty sure that option is only available with the Pro and Enterprise versions of Windows 8. I have the regular single language version, and that option is greyed out and unavailable. I see that its there, but I can't check mark the box ya know.
 
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Iron124

Iron124

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Totally overlooked that, my apologies. (I've only ever used Windows 7 Professional Edition).

Why exactly do you want to encrypt your entire drive? I understand that you have a fear of hackers, but Windows does a pretty good job on its own of keeping your files safe. Here are some security steps you can take.

1. Make sure you are on an Admin account with a strong password, to avoid unauthorized entry. This will protect all files on your computer from anybody snooping.

2. If necessary, you can set special privileges for certain files (a password document for example) means you and only you can open it. These can be found in the "Security" tab under "Properties"

3. Verify that Windows Firewall is enabled, preventing outside attempts to "hack" your computer are blocked.

4. Have an up-to-date Antivirus software running at all times. In addition to Windows Defender/MS Security Essentials, try to have one or more additional pieces of software running for redundancy to make sure any malicious software is eradicated. (AVG and MalwareBytes are good tools.)


 
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Thank you very much for your replies. I really just want to make a notepad file of all my account ID's and passwords for all my accounts with sensitive info (bank, Google, websites like paypal, ebay ect.). And having a file with all that info on it, I would like to have it heavily encrypted. Even just having it password protected to open it or something would be nice. I think you are right, I don't my entire drive encrypted, but that file yes. Any ideas on how to encrypt just the file with regular windows?
 
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