Bitlocker Detect Data Drive

seph

New Member
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11
Hello, I've recently encrypted my main drive, and all is well. However, I would like to be able to encrypt one of my data drives as well and bitlocker isn't even detecting the drive's existence under "Fixed Drives"

I'm on windows 8.1 machine, the encrypted main drive is a SSD drive, and the data drive is a regular WD spinning drive SATA drive. Please help, I would like to have the WD data drive encrypted as well...
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
Can you at least see the drive in your file manager? What is the format of that drive?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro 64 Bit
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Sager NP2740
    CPU
    Intel Core i7 4702HQ 2.2 GHz
    Motherboard
    W740SU
    Memory
    8 GB 1600 MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel Iris Pro 5200
    Sound Card
    High Defenition Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    IPS Display
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080
    Hard Drives
    Samsung SSD 840 EVO 250 GB mSATA
    Internet Speed
    60 Mbps cable, NETGEAR Night Hawk AC1900
    Browser
    Firefox 38.0.5
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender & Malwarebytes Pro
Okay, hit the Windows Key + R and type in "diskmgmt.msc". In here it will show information regarding the HDD's, tell me what is listed under type.

EDIT: I may not be on later so I will post where I am going with this, the only thing I could find was that BitLocker will only recognize drive "type" that is "Basic". So if yours says something like "Dynamic" for example we need to fix that first.

Follow this guide:
Change a dynamic disk back to a basic disk: Storage Services; Local File Systems
 

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My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro 64 Bit
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Sager NP2740
    CPU
    Intel Core i7 4702HQ 2.2 GHz
    Motherboard
    W740SU
    Memory
    8 GB 1600 MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel Iris Pro 5200
    Sound Card
    High Defenition Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    IPS Display
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080
    Hard Drives
    Samsung SSD 840 EVO 250 GB mSATA
    Internet Speed
    60 Mbps cable, NETGEAR Night Hawk AC1900
    Browser
    Firefox 38.0.5
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender & Malwarebytes Pro
I do have one disk that is dynamic in the list. However the one that I am trying to encrypt is a basic disc.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
Per the screenshot, your D: drive is also your System partition, and you're missing the normal 350 MB System Reserved partition, which is what is normally used by BitLocker and the Windows boot system. I think that has some bearing on your problem. On my system, the drives look like this:

Drive 0: System Reserved (350 MB, System), C: (238 GB, BitLocker encrypted)
Drive 1: D: (BitLocker encrypted), X: (BitLocker encrypted)
Drive 2: Y: (BitLocker encrypted)

Did you install Windows with all your drives connected? If so, that could be the problem. Windows Setup is known to do stupid things when more than the intended boot drive is connected; there's even a KB article on it. That's why it's best to open your machine and disconnect all but the intended boot drive when installing Windows. Also, if the drive is already partitioned, you should delete the partitions (having backed up first if necessary) instead of directing Windows to install to an existing partition; if you don't, it won't create the System Reserved partition.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro with Media Center
Thank you vm crawfish. That was indeed the issue, I backed everything up. Partitioned the os drive myself and started all over. Still have an issue with the newly formatted data drive though. Now I get the error "A smart card wasn't detected" in the wizard for bitlocker fixed drives.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
I don't have a TPM so have to do the following to encrypt my system drive (this is from my installation checklist; hopefully the shorthand is clear enough):

3. gpedit.msc:

a. Computer->Admin->Windows Components->Bitlocker :
->Operating System Drives : Require additional authentication at startup (Allow without compatible TPM)

I didn't have to change any of the other policies to encrypt my data drives, both internal and external. If this doesn't help, or you do have a TPM and it doesn't apply, I'm afraid I don't know what to tell you.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro with Media Center
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