How To Lock - Unlock & Give Password To A Hard Drive in Windows 7

BitLocker

Step 1

Attach your external hard drive to your Windows 7 Ultimate or Enterprise computer and power on the drive.

Step 2

Click "Start | Control Panel | BitLocker Drive Encryption" to open the BitLocker program.

Step 3

Click "Turn On BitLocker" next to your listed external hard drive.

Step 4

Check "Use a Password to Unlock the Drive" and enter a password in the "Type Your Password" and "Retype Your Password" fields, making sure the password is the same in both fields. Click "Next."

Step 5

Click "Save the Recovery Key to a File" choose a save location on your main hard drive and click "Save." Alternatively, insert a USB flash drive in your USB port, click "Save the Recovery Key to a USB Flash Drive" and click "Save." Either option creates a recovery key, so you can decrypt the drive if you forget your password. Click "Next."

Step 6

Click "Start Encrypting" to encrypt the drive and require a password for subsequent access. The encryption process can take several minutes --or even hours-- to complete, depending on the size of your drive and your processing power.