NTFS and stolen laptop

I have a notebook that requires a password to login. The hard drive is formatted with NTFS. This is XP and Vista dual boot. If the notebook got stolen, can the person who steals it read my data by taking out the drive and attaching it with an adapter to another computer?

 

Hum yes and no: usually you can't access the privates folder for another computer if you're not logged in the account.... Problem is when reinstalling windows i couldn't access the files in that folder because they were set as privates but my linux install had absolutely no problem reading the files...

 

Actually he doesn't even need to take out the HDD. There are plenty of tools that can reset the password of administrator account. Then all he has to do is take ownership of all the secured folders. You are out of luck unless you encrypted using a 3rd party utility. Of cause he can also take out the HDD and do the same thing (in that case he doesn't have to reset the admin password)

 

Use Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) if you want to be relatively sure your data is secure.

 

Yep, encryption is the only way to go if you want to keep your data secure.

TrueCrypt - http://www.truecrypt.org/ - is supposed to be very good, and it's free (open source actually).
Personally I only really have my passwords to all sorts of sites and other things that I desperately need to keep safe (wouldn't want someone to make my monthly income drop to zero in an instant by getting hold of my webhosting and FTP info ), so I've only tried encryption on a somewhat smaller scale so far with KeePass - http://keepass.info/

 

I'm afraid that whoever stole your laptop will easily be able to access your files if all you have done is password protect them (provided he has a bit of brains).
In the future, if you wish your files to be secure, you can encrypt them by using EFS (included in XP Pro or Vista Business).
Do note that by doing so might hinder your computer's performance a bit.

 

thief wouldn't need to do anything except boot to a LiveCD or bootable flash drive. viola'. instant access to HD bypassing all security.

 

Hopefully the poster isn't the actual robber and now he knows how to bypass the stolen notebook! hmmm

 

I think you should password protect your logons for both XP and Vista on your dual-booting laptop, but to really prevent someone from retrieving your data, keep it out of their hands. Once a laptop is in the hands of the robber, the chances of him not getting into your system are very slim.

 

There are ways to circumvent passwords. To a layman it would be difficult but if they persevere they will eventually break thru.

 

Um...I set to use HDD password in addition to my fingerprint+Windows password. Would this help a little bit more?

 

This depends on the HDD type.

If properly implemented, HDD password is very hard and expensive to circumvent (and requires a special equipment) - generally it costs more than a new HDD. So, if your information worth less then HDD, go for it.
Hovewer some HDD models have security holes in ATA Password feature that allow easy circumvention, you may want to investigate it in advance.

Btw, you can use NTFS encryption to actually encrypt data on disk, so it won't be visible under other logins or from other host PC. Hovewer in case of bad system failure you may lose access to your own encrypted files (unless you will follow a kinda complex recovery/backup procedures thats even can compromise actual security if done improperly).

Third alternative is to use third-party file/volume encryption software (like free TrueCrypt).
Generally encryption is good only for sensitive data, since it imposes a performance hit.

 

look.

i'll make this REAL simple.

if you are that sensitive about data that you don't want anybody to see ever, then DONT PUT IT ON THE HARD DRIVE OF A COMPUTER THAT YOU TAKE EVERYWHERE WITH YOU.

seriously.

just don't.

i can't wait for this guy's thread in a few weeks titled "HELP !! I SET A BIOS/HDD PASSWORD AND I CANT REMEMBER WHAT IT IS!!!!"

 

I'm afraid the 1st thing he'll do is to reformat it =/

 

Even if he does reformat, it's still easy as hell to get files off the drive unless it's rewritten over.

 

For sensitive data just place in a usb memory stick. Bitlocker helps too.

 

Recently an open-source tool called DiskCryptor has been released, which does whole disk encryption (WDE). This is extremely good protection, IMO.

 

as every one else say yes can acess ntfs

if you set hard disk password and bios password you hard disk will be locked to that machine will take alot work get acess to

also set you bios not boot to removable media is good that way can not boot live cd or anything machine to try acess or wipe the disk

 

I have not heard of this before but I use truecrypt often. A search for "DiskCryptor" only turns up some torrent links other suspect web pages. I would stick with truecrypt until more people have heard of and used diskcryptor.