TC-AES vs Unencypted

Hello NBR.

I am planning on using TrueCrypt to encrypt my hard drive using AES. The reason for this is because i have trust issues with Microsoft and their Bitlocker. Anyways, my CPU supports the AES-NI standard according to Intel ARK. I am using a 1TB 5400RPM drive and an i7-4700MQ CPU.

Now, my question is, how much performance do i lose in terms of disk read/write for encrypting my drive with TrueCrypt AES?

 

On an SSD, the hit is barely noticeable, IMO. on a 5400rpm spinner, it will be noticeable. Weather it's detrimental enough to bother you or not is something you'll have to 'feel' for yourself.

I believe when you begin the encryption process, TC allows you to run sequential read/write tests under the various encryption algorithms. Obviously it doesn't represent real world usage exactly as the benchmarks are run in ram, but it will give you a good idea of the relative hit you'll take.

 

So am I just better off storing the sensitive data on external device/file container?

 

Depends on your needs in my opinion. If you're going for full system drive encryption, because you want that type of security incase your laptop or drive is stolen, then you have no choice but to encrypt the entire system partition/drive.

But if your security needs only require you to encrypt certain items on your laptop, then an USB or external HD with a TC container on it, or even a smaller encrypted partition or a container on the unencrypted drive will suffice.

I encrypt my entire drive, but I probably don't need to - I'm just paranoid. But I also use an SSD as my primary drive so I really don't notice the difference.

But yes, encrypting the entire drive on a 5400RPM drive just to keep a small amount of data encrypted wouldn't be the best approach IMO.

 

Nah, just encrypting a few files, containing passwords and other stuff. Anyways, i ended up making a file container, works fine. Thanks for the help though, if i do get an SSD, ill consider it.