Disk Encryption Tool Comparison: Bitlocker vs TrueCrypt vs VeraCrypt

For security and privacy, sometimes we need an encryption tool to protect our data on the disk. There are lots of encryption tools available and all of them have their characteristics. In this post, we will walk you through the detailed comparison of disk encryption tools: BitLocker vs TrueCrypt vs VeraCrypt, and show you the advantages and disadvantages of them.

BitLocker

As one of the most popular disk encryption tools, BitLocker Drive Encryption is a data protection feature that integrates with Windows operating system. BitLocker uses the AES encryption algorithm with a 128- or 256-bit key to encrypt the whole drive or volume. The following lists the advantages and disadvantages of Bitlocker compared with TrueCrypt and VeraCrypt.

Advantages

• 1. It is easy-to-use. It is built in Windows operating system and the process of encryption is fairly simple to handle, taking little time.
• 2. It offers higher security based on the hardware chip.
• 3. BitLocker has more excellent recovery options than TrueCrypt and VeraCrypt do. Bitlocker allows you to back up the recovery key or password on several devices and it is even possible to store in Active Directory.
• 4. Compare with TrueCrypt and VeraCrypt, BitLocker is better integrated in operating system.

Disadvantages

• 1. Unlike TrueCrypt and VeraCrypt, BitLocker is a closed-source program.
• 2. It only supports by some editions of Windows operating system (NOT ALL), not supports macOS, Linux, etc.
• 3. A special TPM chip must be required for BitLocker encryption. But most computers have TPM modules.
• 4. It takes plenty of time to complete the encryption and the system may run slow when encrypting or decrypting.
• 5. Unlike TrueCrypt and VeraCrypt, Bitlocker is not allowed to create virtual containers and the whole partition must be encrypted.

TrueCrypt

As a well-known disk encryption tool, TrueCrypt has been discontinued for six years. TrueCrypt currently recommends users to migrate to BitLocker and provides instructions on how to do it but it is still safe to use. TrueCrypt can create a virtual encrypted disk in a file or encrypt a volume or the whole drive. The advantages and disadvantages of it are listed below.

Advantages

• 1. Unlike BitLocker, TrueCrypt is open source, which means the public can inspect it for backdoors.
• 2. It supports by various operating systems like Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux.
• 3. It supports independent encryption algorithms like AES, Twofish, Serpent and cascading algorithms like AES-Twofish, AES-Twofish-Serpent, Serpent-AES, etc.
• 4. It supports key file authentication, which allows you to use the specified file as the key to encrypt data.

Disadvantages

• 1. It has been discontinued and its version stays at 7.1a and won't be updated and maintained anymore.
• 2. TrueCrypt uses a very mediocre key generation which cannot provide enough protection for the computer capacity used by special services.
• 3. TrueCrypt is vulnerable to physical attacks.

VeraCrypt

VeraCrypt is a fork of TrueCrypt and is widely acknowledged its successor. They are very similar in terms of functionality and design but VeraCrypt has made a great progress on decryption relative to TrueCrypt. Here are the pros and cons of VeraCrypt.

Advantages

• 1. VeraCrypt can create a hidden encrypted volume within other volumes, and encrypt the whole drive, including system disk.
• 2. It supports by various operating systems like Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux.
• 3. Like TrueCrypt, VeraCrypt is also an open source on-the-fly encryption program.
• 4. Unlike BitLocker, VeraCrypt uses several encryption algorithms including AES, Twofish, Serpent.
• 5. Relative to TrueCrypt and BitLocker, VeraCrypt is more reliable and faster and more resistant to brute-force attacks.

Disadvantages

• 1. VeraCrypt spends extensive time on installing an encrypted file-hosted volume at the first time.
• 2. A new security audit has found several critical vulnerabilities in VeraCrypt.
• 3. The process of VeraCrypt encryption is fairly complicated to handle and you need to spend much time on it.

Showdown

There is no simple or straightforward answer to the question that which one is the best disk encryption tool. All of these encryption tools have their advantages and disadvantages. BitLocker is better integrated with Windows and it is fairly simple to use. TrueCrypt has been discontinued but it is still a powerful disk encryption tool. VeraCrypt is also a well-known encryption tool worth recommending. Besides, there are many other powerful disk encryption tools such as AxCrypt, CipherShed, CertainSafe, etc. All of them are powerful enough to protect your data on the disk and it matters which one more suitable for you.