WD Security beginner questions

I’m thinking of purchasing a WD portable drive for the advantages of WD Security. But I have some questions about it:

-  I know WD Security can password-protect files, but can it also prevent deletion of the protected files?

-  Other security solutions encrypt files into a “locker” or “container” file. The contents of the “locker” is immune to erasing or tampering but the “locker” itself can be easily deleted, thus deleting the “protected” files, too. Does WD Security have the same problem?

-  Can the protected files remain protected from deletion or modification even if the WD Security program is uninstalled or the OS (e.g. Windows) is formatted, or on a different computer?

Thank you.

qaz_1,

WD Security does not encrypt files; it locks the entire disk drive as a whole and prevents unauthorized access to it. The lock mechanism is part of the physical device itself, which means it does not create a file that can be erased to bypass the lock or delete the files.

The disk drive will remain locked until the password is manually disabled. WD Security is used to trigger the security within the disk drive, and the disk itself carries the security irrespective of WD Security being present or not. The disk itself includes a manual unlocking mechanism that prompts for a password even on systems without WD Security.

So if I understand correctly, the only way anyone can delete a protected file is by providing the correct password? No other way around it (except physically destroying the HDD, of course) ?

qaz_1,

Not individual files, but the whole volume itself can be erased if the disk detects too many wrong password attempts. An option to completely and permanently destroy all data in order to be able use the disk drive again will be presented.

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The downside of the hardware encryption is if you forget or have a problem with your password there is no reset. Also if the board doing the encryption goes bad data recovery is not simple.

Joe

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