Windows 10: BitLocker Used Disk Space Only Encrypted

I have been using my laptop for a while, but no sensitive data stored on it yet and I just enabled Bitlocker with the Used Space option to save time. The files that were deleted are NOT sensitive.

A few questions here.

1. When I decide to reinstall Windows 10 again on the same laptop, and enable Bitlocker, do I need to encrypt the entire disk or leave as Used Space? The way I reinstall Windows, is to delete ALL partitions and only leave the Unallocated free space. That's all. I usually delete ALL partitions.

2. Assuming I did NOT have any sensitive data previously deleted that may be recoverable on the free space, will it be OK to select Used Space only when I reinstall Windows the next time? It is really time consuming - takes about 9 hours to encrypt a 300GB drive...

3. If the Used Space is encrypted, and I decide to store data on there, will the files be automatically encrypted when added to that Used Space?

4. If I delete a sensitive file or document from that encrypted Used Space area, will those documents be moved to the free space area were they can be recovered?

Thanks!

:)

 

Bitlocker - How secure is encrypting used space only?

Hi

In a nutshell, I bought windows 10 pro and wanted to use Bitlocker. I tried several times to encrypt the whole disk but it always got stuck at 54.2%. I ran chkdsk /f and sfc /scannow and no errors were found. I decrypted sucessfully and tried encrypting
again but it still got stuck in the same place.

I managed to run bitlocker successfully by encrypting only used space. My question is should I run cipher.exe /w to wipe all unused space as this is an old laptop?

Also, how does Bitlocker work when only encrypting used space - i.e. if I write a file to the disk I assume it automatically encrypts it, but if I then delete that file is the space no longer encrypted and therefore open to hackers?

Look forward to your comments.

 

Bit Locker

1. To set up BitLocker Drive Encryption, open the SEARCH (Windows Key + S, for example), type BitLocker, then click Manage BitLocker.



2. Select the drive that you want to encrypt, and click Turn on BitLocker.



3. Select how you want to unlock the drive.



4. Choose where you want to save the recovery key in case you forget your password.



5. Choose whether you want to encrypt the entire drive, or only the used space. If you encrypt only the used space, it will encrypt new data as added.



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