L702x Full Disk Encryption

Has anybody successfully used Truecrypt full disk encryption on a L702x running Windows 7 Ultimate? I have two hard drives installed and under My Computer they both show up as two separate hard drives so I am pretty sure they are not set up in raid to act like one hard drive. However, I could be wrong. I got a warning from Truecrypt after I had checked the Encrypt the Whole Drive box that said "Your system drive contains a non standard partition." Might this nonstandard partition be a common thing with windows 7 users in general, or is it a specific issue with Dell's firmware or perhaps only the XPS L702x?

Thanks for your help!










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Hello Syztemaddict,

The XPS L702X computer supports 2 hard drives. Both the hard drives are set as separate hard drives. The computer does not have a Raid option. It seems that you are trying to encrypt the hard drive on which the operating system is installed. The hard drive on which the operating system installed, there would be 3 partitions. 1) System reserved partition (100 MB) on which the system boot files are stored, 2) system partition on which the operating system and the other programs are stored 3) recovery partition (about 15GB) on which the Dell recovery image is stored. If you are trying to encrypt the complete hard drive, all the 3 partitions would be encrypted including the system reserved partition on which the boot files are stored. Encrypting the system reserved partition may cause the system to stop booting. It is suggested to encrypt the Windows System partition.
If you are trying to encrypt the secondary hard drive on which the operating system is not installed, you encrypt the whole drive.
DISCLAIMER: DELL has not tested this encryption software, and does not provide support for the issues that may arise after using the application. Usage of such applications is completely on Customers discretion

Srinivas P
Certified Dell Community Professional
You can reach us at https://twitter.com/#!/dellcares / https://www.facebook.com/dell / Home - Dell Community

 

It should be fine I have used turecrypt many time to encrypted the full system I have never seen the error you are talking about but that being said i never have a recovery partion as i wipe the hhd and reinstall windows and the recovery partion is not even needed IMO it just uses needed space

Sent From My Rooted EVO 3D

 

Thanks I appreciate both of your fast responses!
I'm going to weigh out the options and will post my setup in a bit here..

 

Sounds good I'll give you all the info that I know from using truecrypt

Sent From My Rooted EVO 3D

 

My guess is the Dell recovery partition is causing your troubles.

And as was said, the l702x does not support RAID. Dell decided to not include this feature for some insane reason...

 

Is the OEM Dell Utility absolutely necessary to boot into bios? Let's say I put in a brand new hard drive without that OEM Dell Utility partition how would the system be capable of starting up? Is the bios in some kind of deep permanent memory on the motherboard?
Using Uefi bios is there any way to use Truecrypt system partition encryption or whole system disk encryption? I found this post in the Truecrypt forums that is also pointing in the direction you guys are talking about.
TrueCrypt Forums :: Best practice for Win7 system encryption with system and boot parts
Also, I was able to get a few shots of exactly how my partitions are set up. Thanks again for all your insight this stuff is confusing at times but I'm definitely learning it bit by bit.










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Hello Syztemaddict,

The Dell OEM utility partition is not necessary to boot. The Dell Utility partition will have the recovery image of the operating system and the factory installed software that can be used to restore the computer to factory defaults in case of an operating system / software issues.
The Utility partition will also include the Dell 32 bit diagnostics utility that can be used to run the extended diagnostics on the hardware of the computer.
You can connect a new hard drive to the computer, install the operating system on the hard drive and should be able to boot to the operating system.
Srinivas P
Certified Dell Community Professional
You can reach us at https://twitter.com/#!/dellcares / https://www.facebook.com/dell / Home - Dell Community

 

Much appreciated, Srinivas.

Can anybody confirm UEFI bios working with Truecrypt, because I have been finding conflicting reports.

 

Hello Syztemaddict,

You are welcome and it is my pleasure to assist you.
As you already know and as we have mentioned at the beginning of this posted, DELL has not tested this encryption software, and does not provide support these issues. As much as I want to help you in this regard. Just to keep you posted, we have never tested this encryption software and support is not possible on this. Really hope you understand. If there is anything else that you need assistance with this, we will be glad to assist you with that.

Srinivas P
Certified Dell Community Professional
You can reach us at https://twitter.com/#!/dellcares / https://www.facebook.com/dell / Home - Dell Community