DiskCryptor

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DiskCryptor

DiskCryptor main window
Developer(s)	Anonymous ntldr <ntldr(at)diskcryptor.net> David Xanatos[1]
Stable release	1.2.2/848.118.202 Stable / 27 April 2020 (2020-04-27)
Written in	C, Assembly
Operating system	Microsoft Windows
Available in	English
Type	Disk encryption software
License	GNU GPLv3
Website	diskcryptor.org

DiskCryptor is a free and open-source full disk encryption system for Microsoft Windows.^[2][3] It allows for the encryption of a PC's entire hard drive or individual partitions – including the ability to encrypt the partition and disk on which the OS is installed.^[4]

DiskCryptor was originally designed to replace commercial disk encryption systems such as DriveCrypt Plus Pack and PGP Whole Disk Encryption, and uses either AES-256, Twofish, Serpent or a combination of cascaded algorithms in XTS mode to carry out encryption.

The project was originally started by a former TrueCrypt user and forum member who goes by the name of 'ntldr' (anonymous). According to the developer, it was originally fully compatible with TrueCrypt's container format as it used a corresponding partition format and encrypted data with AES-256 algorithm in LRW mode. However, according to the software's website, has since improved on the format in order to allow data-in-place encryption on Windows XP, to allow the system partition to have exactly the same format as non-system partitions and to support future project plans.

After the original TrueCrypt was discontinued, DiskCryptor as an alternative had not been updated for a long time, but since 2020 development has restarted.^[5] Notable changes are the ability to boot in an UEFI environment from GPT disks.^[6][7] Other alternatives have appeared, most notably the source-available project VeraCrypt (based on the original TrueCrypt source code), but DiskCryptor is significant more efficient and faster, most noticeable on very fast NVMe storage devices.^[8][9][10]

Program features[]

• Support for encryption algorithm AES, Twofish, Serpent, including their combinations.
  • Transparent encryption of disk partitions.
  • Full support for dynamic disks.
  • Support for disk devices with large sector size (important for hardware RAID operation).
• Performance claimed to be comparable to efficiency of a non-encrypted system.
  • Support for hardware AES acceleration:
    • AES instruction set on recent Intel and AMD CPUs;
    • PadLock extensions on VIA processors.
  • Support for the SSD TRIM extension
• Broad choice in configuration of booting an encrypted OS. Support for various multi-boot options.
  • Full compatibility with third party boot loaders (LILO, GRUB, etc.).
  • Full compatibility with UEFI/GPT boot
  • Encryption of system and bootable partitions with pre-boot authentication.
  • Option to place boot loader on external medium and to authenticate using the key medium.
  • Support for key files.
• Full support for external storage devices.
  • Option to create encrypted CDs and DVDs.
  • Full support for encryption of external USB storage devices.
  • Automatic mounting of disk partitions and external storage devices.
• Support for hotkeys and optional command-line interface (CLI).
• Open license GNU GPLv3.

For limitations in the current version, as well as other technical information, see official website.

Encryption algorithms[]

• AES-256
• Serpent
• Twofish

All algorithms are implemented in XTS mode.

Hash function[]

• prf HMAC-SHA-512

Performance[]

With modern computer system that have hardware accelerated AES calculations, Diskcryptor has nearly native write/read performance in the multi GB/s range even on very fast modern storage devices like NVMe.^[11] On an Intel Core 2 Quad (Q6600) CPU data encryption speed amounts to 104 MB/s per core.^[12] Crypto-algorithms for the x86 version are implemented in assembly language, the implementation having a maximum number of optimizations for the Intel Core line of processors, however it performs sufficiently fast on any other processor as well.^[13] Almost all possible enhancements to improve the performance have been applied such as the AES algorithm code is being dynamically generated with optimization made for the usage of a particular key.^[12]

Supported OS[]

See also[]

• Comparison of disk encryption software
• Disk encryption

References[]

External links[]

• Official website
• Download
• Forum