How to Encrypt Your Data with CipherShed: Download and Installation Guide
CipherShed Download: How to Encrypt Your Data with Free and Open Source Software
If you are looking for a way to protect your sensitive data from unauthorized access, theft, or loss, you might want to consider using encryption software. Encryption software can create secure areas on your hard drive or external storage devices, where you can store your files and folders. These areas are called encrypted volumes, and they can only be accessed with a password or a key. Encryption software can also encrypt your entire drive or partition, making it impossible for anyone to boot your system or access your data without entering the correct password.
There are many encryption software available on the market, but not all of them are reliable, trustworthy, or easy to use. Some of them are proprietary, meaning that you have to pay for them or accept their terms of service. Some of them are closed source, meaning that you cannot inspect their code or verify their security claims. Some of them are outdated, buggy, or abandoned by their developers.
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That's why we recommend using CipherShed, a free and open source encryption software that is based on the popular but discontinued TrueCrypt project. CipherShed is a community-driven project that aims to provide a secure, transparent, and user-friendly encryption solution for Windows, Mac OS X, and GNU/Linux users. In this article, we will show you how to download and install CipherShed on your system, how to create and use encrypted volumes (containers), and how to encrypt your entire drive or partition with CipherShed.
How to create and use a CipherShed container
A CipherShed container is a file that acts as a virtual encrypted disk. You can create a container anywhere on your system or on an external storage device, such as a USB flash drive or an external HDD. You can choose any size, name, and location for your container. You can also choose any encryption algorithm and hash algorithm for your container. Once you create a container, you can mount it as a virtual drive using CipherShed. Then you can copy, move, or delete files to or from the container as if it were a normal disk. When you are done using the container, you can unmount it and close it with CipherShed. The container file will remain encrypted and inaccessible without the correct password.
Creating and using a CipherShed container is very easy and straightforward. Here are the steps you need to follow:
Download and install CipherShed from the official website: . Choose the version that matches your operating system and follow the instructions to complete the installation.
Launch CipherShed from the Start menu (Windows), the Applications folder (Mac OS X), or the command line (GNU/Linux).
Click on the Create Volume button to launch the CipherShed Volume Creation Wizard. This wizard will guide you through the process of creating a new encrypted volume.
Select the option Create an encrypted file container and click Next. This option will allow you to create a CipherShed container as a file on your system or on an external storage device.
Select the option Standard CipherShed volume and click Next. This option will create a standard encrypted volume that can be mounted and accessed with CipherShed. There is also an option to create a hidden volume, which is a more advanced feature that allows you to create a second encrypted volume within the first one, for extra security and plausible deniability. You can learn more about hidden volumes on the CipherShed website: .
Click on the Select File... button and choose a file name and location for your container. You can create the container anywhere on your system or on an external storage device, such as a USB flash drive or an external HDD. You can also choose any name for your container, but make sure it does not have any file extension, such as .txt or .doc. For example, you can name your container mydata or secretfiles. Click Save and then click Next.
Choose an encryption algorithm and a hash algorithm for your container. These are the algorithms that will be used to encrypt and decrypt your data, as well as to generate and verify passwords. CipherShed offers several options for both encryption and hash algorithms, each with different levels of security and performance. You can learn more about each algorithm on the CipherShed website: . For most users, we recommend using the default options: AES for encryption and SHA-512 for hashing. Click Next.
Specify the size of your container in megabytes (MB) or gigabytes (GB). The size of your container will determine how much data you can store in it. You can choose any size you want, but make sure you have enough free space on your system or on your external storage device. For example, if you want to create a 10 GB container, you need to have at least 10 GB of free space available. Click Next.
Enter a password for your container. This is the password that you will need to enter every time you want to mount and access your container with CipherShed. Choose a strong password that is hard to guess, but easy to remember. A strong password should be at least 20 characters long, and should include a combination of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols. Do not use any personal information, such as your name, birthday, or pet's name, as your password. Do not write down or share your password with anyone. If you forget or lose your password, you will not be able to access your data in the container. Click Next.
Move your mouse randomly within the CipherShed window for at least 30 seconds. This will generate some random data that will be used to strengthen the encryption of your container. The longer you move your mouse, the better. Click Format when you are done.
CipherShed will start creating and formatting your container. This may take some time, depending on the size of your container and the speed of your system or external storage device. Wait until the process is finished and click Exit.
Congratulations! You have successfully created a CipherShed container. Now you can mount it as a virtual drive and use it to store your files and folders securely.
How to mount and use a CipherShed container
To mount and use a CipherShed container, follow these steps:
Launch CipherShed from the Start menu (Windows), the Applications folder (Mac OS X), or the command line (GNU/Linux).
Select an available drive letter from the list of the CipherShed window. This will be the drive letter that will be assigned to your container when you mount it. For example, you can choose Z: or X:.
Click on the Select File... button and browse to the location of your container file. Select the file and click Open.
Click on the Mount button. CipherShed will ask you to enter the password for your container. Type the password and click OK.
If you entered the correct password, CipherShed will mount your container as a virtual drive with the drive letter that you selected. You can see the status of your mounted container in the CipherShed window, such as the file name, size, encryption algorithm, and hash algorithm.
Now you can access your container as if it were a normal disk. You can open it from the File Explorer (Windows), the Finder (Mac OS X), or the file manager (GNU/Linux). You can copy, move, or delete files to or from your container as you wish. You can also create new folders or subfolders in your container. All the data that you store in your container will be encrypted automatically and transparently by CipherShed.
When you are done using your container, you should unmount it and close it with CipherShed. To do so, select your mounted container from the list in the CipherShed window and click on the Dismount button. You can also dismount all mounted containers at once by clicking on the Dismount All button. This will prevent anyone from accessing your data in the container without your password.
How to encrypt an entire drive or partition with CipherShed
Besides creating and using encrypted containers, CipherShed also allows you to encrypt an entire drive or partition on your system. This means that you can encrypt your system drive (where your operating system is installed) or any other drive or partition (such as a data drive or a recovery partition). By encrypting an entire drive or partition, you can protect all the data on it from unauthorized access, theft, or loss. You can also prevent anyone from booting your system or accessing your data without entering the correct password.
Encrypting an entire drive or partition with CipherShed is a more advanced and complex process than creating and using encrypted containers. It requires more time, resources, and precautions. It also involves some risks, such as losing access to your data if something goes wrong during the encryption process or if you forget or lose your password. Therefore, we recommend that you backup all your important data before encrypting an entire drive or partition with CipherShed. We also recommend that you read the documentation and follow the instructions carefully when using this feature of CipherShed.
Here are the steps you need to follow to encrypt an entire drive or partition with CipherShed:
Download and install CipherShed from the official website: . Choose the version that matches your o