Encrypt A U.S.B. Stick With VeraCrypt

In this tutorial, we fully encrypt a blank U.S.B. stick using VeraCrypt, a free cross-platform encryption utility. Whilst we’ve featured BitLocker in a previous video, it is exclusively available on Windows 10, and only provides writable volumes in Windows 10 Pro, whereas VeraCrypt will work on any version of Windows, as well as macOS, Linux and Raspberry Pi.

We walk through the downloading and installation of VeraCrypt, using it to create a new volume on our U.S.B. drive, examining each of the potential configuration options, before formatting the drive.

We will then explore how to access the drive after encryption, and, in particular, we will differentiate between the now unreadable physical drive, and the encrypted virtual drive. Finally, we will show how to dismount the encrypted drive and eject the physical drive.

Before undertaking this tutorial, please be aware that (1) the steps shown will fully erase the content of your U.S.B. drive, and you should ensure that any data stored on it is transferred to a suitable backup drive and (2) the process shown is time-consuming, and we would recommend setting aside at least two hours of computer time for the formatting process to take place.

Topics covered:
00:00 Introduction
00:19 Using BitLocker as an alternative
00:32 VeraCrypt homepage and download links
01:14 Dealing with unverified apps
01:35 Choose where to get apps
01:57 Suppressing User Account Control
02:13 Language selection
02:21 Licence terms
02:29 Full and Portable installation options
02:35 Installation location and further options
02:51 Installation process
03:14 Running VeraCrypt
03:19 Main interface and inserting the U.S.B. drive
03:25 Determining the drive letter
03:44 Creating a new volume
03:45 Volume Creation Wizard
03:48 Encrypting a non-system partition/drive
04:00 Standard and hidden volumes
04:11 Volume location
04:47 Create and encrypt volume or encrypt in place
05:05 Encryption algorithm
05:14 Drive size
05:24 Password entry and confirmation
05:46 Working with large files
06:06 Randomness via mouse movement
06:23 Formatting
06:49 Accessing the drive in future
07:16 Using the prepared U.S.B. drive
07:32 How Windows now treats the drive
07:53 How to access the encrypted drive
07:58 Mounting the encrypted drive
08:02 Selecting the device
08:13 Mapping the physical drive to an encrypted virtual drive letter
08:21 Mounting the selected disk
08:28 Password entry
08:36 Accessing the drive via the newly-allocated drive letter
09:00 Using the encrypted drive
09:06 Dismounting the encrypted volume
09:19 Ejecting the physical drive
09:33 Using the drive in on each future occasion

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Video Links:

VeraCrypt (Encryption Utility). Free download: https://www.veracrypt.fr/en/Downloads...

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