Encrypt Backup Disk or Not | What Would Be the Best Choice
Deciding whether to encrypt the backup disk or not is quite complicated. As we have grown fast with technology, the stories related to data breaching and cyber attacks have become quite common. It's not only the newer ones. Even the more prominent companies available today in the marketplace have faced different data breaching issues that somewhere put our privacy at stake. The primary reason why data breaches or cyber-attacks have become quite popular is the unawareness of the tools and data protection.
Encrypting backup is one of the easiest and perfect ways to enable the absolute security of your privacy anytime. It is the way that keeps you safe on the world wide web. But what do you mean byEncrypting Backup Disk? It means to secure your backup so no one can steal your data even if they et their hands on the backup. It ensures only you can restore data from the backup disk.
Two Ways: Encrypt Backup Drive to Protect Your Data
This guide helps you understand the importance of encryption and how you can encrypt the backup. We have also recommended using third-party software to easily backup data on your PC.
How to Encrypt Backup Disks in Different Ways?
Encrypting backup disks makes it difficult for strangers to snoop through your secure data or private files perfectly. It is the perfect way to protect your data from cybercrime. One can easily encrypt a backup disk by using software and Windows built-in tools. The guide will provide complete information about how to do this perfectly.
- Method 1.Encrypt Backup Disk with Windows Built-in Tool
- Method 2. Encrypt Backup Disk With Efficient Software
Method 1.Encrypt Backup Disk with Windows Built-in Tool
Windows features built-in tools for encrypting backup disks perfectly. The entire process is relatively smoother and requires a very few steps that you have to follow.
Step 1. Press "Win" + "S" to open the Start menusearch bar. Type BitLocker here and click on the Manage BitLocker option when it appears. It will open the BitLocker Drive Encryption Windows.
Step 2. Locate the backup drive to protect your data, and tap on it to get the different options. Tap on the Turn on Bitlocker button for a backup drive. Next, select how you want to unlock this drive, and use a password for unlocking the same.
Step 3. To enable the same, you must enter a secure password and reconfirm it. Type the password in the provided field and then tap on the Next button to go further with the process. Make sure to keep a note of the passcode.
Step 4.Next, select a location to backup your recovery key. Just tap on your preferred option and then press Next to proceed further; carefully make an informed choice.
Step 5.Select how much of your drive you want to encrypt. You can choose to encrypt whatever is available on the disk instead of comparing the whole drive, which will take longer. New data will be automatically encrypted.
Step 6.Tap on the Next button and select the encryption mode best for fixed drives on the device. If you connect more, then choose the compatible mode.
Lastly, you have to tap on the Start Encrypting button and tap on the Close button to close the process. It is going to take a good amount of time, so it's best to be patient. Once done, it will look like the below image:
Method 2. Encrypt Backup Disk With Efficient Software
The Windows built-in backup encryption tool brings up many opportunities for the users. Despite having a lot of features, the tool still includes a lot of issues that somewhere make the encryption process fail, and these are:
- It encrypts the data being stored in the BitLocker drive only. Whenever one opts for sending the file in an email, the encryption thus made gets lost completely.
- The tool sometimes causes different performance issues.
- Managing the encryption key is a bit complicated here.
- All encrypted data will be lost if you lose the hardware key or the file or access to your account.
If you are currently willing to encrypt your backup disk, the best option you could believe in is Qiling Backup. It is one of the most recommended options among all present there in the marketplace that relieves you from the headache of saving your precious data at any moment.
- Encrypt the backup disk using a password (AES256 algorithm), which should be less than 15 characters.
- It is a one-click backup and instant recovery solution with higher efficiency and compression
- Easy to use interface for all kinds of users.
- Users can now efficiently perform one-click backup and instant recovery without issues.
- The tool offers absolute disk imaging and saves backups in a safe condition on your device.
- Provides about 250GB of cloud storage for free
Additional Guide: Make Your Backup Disk More Secure
Securing your backup disk is one of the foremost things advised to do. There are different methods of securing the data on the backup disk successfully. We have already provided the two above for you. Along with those two solutions, you can keep your data backup safe by keeping it in different locations. Moreover, limiting access rights to your data backup eventually boosts your backup disk's security.
Qiling Backup is one of this section's most reliable and trustworthy names. It is a perfect solution that backs up your data by creating a Security Zone. The security zone thus created is designed so that hackers or other threats cannot recognize it. The best thing about this tool is that it keeps your data safe even if viruses have attacked your PC.
Here is the detailed process for enabling the same successfully with Qiling Backup.
Step 1. Launch Qiling Backup on your computer, and click System Backup on the Backup and recovery page to back up your Windows operating system.
Step 2. Your Windows operating system information and all system related files and partitions will be automatically selected so you don't need to do any manual selection at this step. Next, you'll need to choose a location to save the system image backup by clicking the illustrated area.
Step 3. The backup location can be another local drive on your computer, an external hard drive, network, cloud or NAS. Generally, we recommend you use an external physical drive or cloud to preserve the system backup files.
Step 4. Customiztion settings like enabling an automatic backup schedule in daily, weekly, monthly, or upon an event, and making a differential and incremental backup are available in the Options button if you're interested. Click "Proceed", and the Windows system backup process will begin. The completed backup task will display on the left side in a card style.
Common Q&As About Encrypting Backup Disk
Being a Windows 11 user, you might be well aware of the different aspects, but indeed not all. We are with some of the most asked FAQs here, which will help you know more about it.
Is it OK to back up an encrypted disk to an unencrypted disk?
Backing up an encrypted disk to an unencrypted disk can put your data at risk. It gives the other person possession of that disk and that they can easily read any data backup.
What is the difference between encrypted and unencrypted backup?
The significant difference here is that the encrypted backups can easily include the information the other backup options are not providing. Everything can be accessed conveniently at encrypted backup, whether it is about passwords, personalized settings, or web history.
Should my Mac backup be encrypted?
Yes, it is always advised to encrypt the mac backup to add an extra layer of protection to your data.
How to encrypt backups on Mac?
One can easily encrypt the backups on Mac through different sources such as: using time machine backup, a clone backup, encrypting online backups locally, etc.
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