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paulb_mc
Contributor
Message 1 of 8

online backup and windows 7 bitlocker

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i'm just wondering if there are any problems using McAfee online back up when files have been encrypted by bitlocker eg does it make backing up slower? A person who answered a similar query on the following site says mozy decrypts files when backing them up: http://serverfault.com/questions/6818/what-backup-strategies-to-use-with-bitlocker Is this true? My reason for asking is that i don't have much confidence in McAfee (after problems with my online backup described in another thread) and I'd be reassured if my files were encrypted before backing up with mcafee (i know mcafee online backup does its own encryption). Cheers

1 Solution

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exbrit
MVP
MVP
Message 4 of 8

Re: online backup and windows 7 bitlocker

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I could be wrong as it's a year or so since I tried my hand at using Bitlocker, but I think it's is designed to ask if you wish to unlock the drive or you should perhaps set it to unlock the drive(s) when you log on.

There's a page here with some explanations referring to Bitlocker and Windows Backup in Windows 7 - the same would apply to any backup tool I would imagine.

Quote in part:

When a drive is locked by BitLocker, you need to unlock the drive before you can see information about the drive, back up

the drive, or save a backup on the drive. Therefore if you’re using BitLocker with Windows Backup, the best option would be to set the drives that you are encrypting to unlock automatically when you log on
to the computer. If you do not wish the drives to unlock automatically, you can also unlock a drive manually only when it’s needed for backup.

See this page http://blogs.technet.com/b/filecab/archive/2009/10/23/protect-your-files-and-pc-with-windows-7-backu...

In particular section 3 and some of the questions/answers below.


Message was edited by: Ex_Brit on 10/02/11 5:17:19 EST PM

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7 Replies
Dinz
Former Member
Message 2 of 8

Re: online backup and windows 7 bitlocker

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Hi paulb_mc,

If you are referring to encrypting the files while backing up . YES , Online back up encrypts files during a back up .  The file encryption process used by McAfee Online Backup to protect your files requires free hard drive space on the drive that hosts the TEMP folder for the user account that runs Online Backup. For the encryption process to work correctly, your hard drive must have enough free disk space to fit 130% of the largest single file which will be backed up. For example, if the largest file is 1GB, you must have at least 1.3GB of free space on your drive to encrypt the file. You might need more space than this, as Online Backup encrypts more than one file at a time.


NOTE: Windows requires that a system have available drive space for it's operations as well as for tasks performed by users. For best performance it is recommended that you have 30% free space available on your primary drive.


If you are backing up multiple drives, McAfee Online Backup will attempt to spread the encryption process across the drives to minimize the amount of free space required on any one drive.


paulb_mc
Contributor
Message 3 of 8

Re: online backup and windows 7 bitlocker

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Hi Dinz. Thanks for the quick reply. I'm aware that mcafee online backup uses encryption. My query was about encryption with bitlocker ie does mcafee undo this encyrption before backing up (as someone else has suggested)? Does it pose mcafee online back up any problems eg is backup slower? Cheers

exbrit
MVP
MVP
Message 4 of 8

Re: online backup and windows 7 bitlocker

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I could be wrong as it's a year or so since I tried my hand at using Bitlocker, but I think it's is designed to ask if you wish to unlock the drive or you should perhaps set it to unlock the drive(s) when you log on.

There's a page here with some explanations referring to Bitlocker and Windows Backup in Windows 7 - the same would apply to any backup tool I would imagine.

Quote in part:

When a drive is locked by BitLocker, you need to unlock the drive before you can see information about the drive, back up

the drive, or save a backup on the drive. Therefore if you’re using BitLocker with Windows Backup, the best option would be to set the drives that you are encrypting to unlock automatically when you log on
to the computer. If you do not wish the drives to unlock automatically, you can also unlock a drive manually only when it’s needed for backup.

See this page http://blogs.technet.com/b/filecab/archive/2009/10/23/protect-your-files-and-pc-with-windows-7-backu...

In particular section 3 and some of the questions/answers below.


Message was edited by: Ex_Brit on 10/02/11 5:17:19 EST PM
paulb_mc
Contributor
Message 5 of 8

Re: online backup and windows 7 bitlocker

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many thanks ex_brit

exbrit
MVP
MVP
Message 6 of 8

Re: online backup and windows 7 bitlocker

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You're welcome, hope it helps.

paulb_mc
Contributor
Message 7 of 8

Re: online backup and windows 7 bitlocker

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incidentally, ... in the end i decided to go with spideroak because of their 'zero-knowledge privacy approach':  https://spideroak.com/whyspideroak

exbrit
MVP
MVP
Message 8 of 8

Re: online backup and windows 7 bitlocker

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Interesting, thanks for the update.

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