This is a technical feature comparison of different disk encryption software.
Background information Operating systems
Features Hidden containers: Whether hidden containers
within another encrypted container so the existence of container A can not be established)
can be created for deniable encryption.
Note that some modes of operation like CBC with a plain IV can be more prone to watermarking
attacks than others.
Pre-boot authentication: Whether authentication can be required before booting the computer,
thus allowing one to encrypt the boot disk.
Single sign-on: Whether credentials provided during pre-boot authentication will automatically
log the user into the host operating system, thus preventing password fatigue and reducing
the need to remember multiple passwords.
Custom authentication: Whether custom authentication mechanisms can be implemented with third-party
applications.
Multiple keys: Whether an encrypted volume can have more than one active key.
Passphrase strengthening: Whether key strengthening is used with plain text passwords to frustrate
dictionary attacks, usually using PBKDF2.
Hardware acceleration: Whether dedicated cryptographic accelerator expansion cards can be taken advantage
of.
Trusted Platform Module: Whether the implementation can use a TPM cryptoprocessor.
Filesystems: what filesystems are supported.
Two-factor authentication: Whether optional security tokens are supported
Layering
Whole disk: Whether the whole physical disk or logical volume can be encrypted, including
the partition tables and master boot record.
Note that this does not imply that the encrypted disk can be used as the boot disk itself;
refer to "pre-boot authentication" in the features comparison table.
Partition: Whether individual disk partitions can be encrypted.
File: Whether the encrypted container can be stored in a file.
Swap space: Whether the swap space can be encrypted individually/explicitly.
Hibernation file: Whether the hibernation file is encrypted.
Modes of operation
Different modes of operation supported by the software.
Note that an encrypted volume can only use one mode of operation.
CBC with predictable IVs: The CBC mode where initialization vectors are statically derived
from the sector number and are not secret; this means that IVs are re-used when overwriting
a sector and the vectors can easily be guessed by an attacker, leading to watermarking attacks.
CBC with secret IVs: The CBC mode where initialization vectors are statically derived from the encryption
key and sector number.
The IVs are secret, but they are re-used with overwrites.
Methods for this include ESSIV and encrypted sector numbers.
CBC with random per-sector keys: The CBC mode where random keys are generated for each sector
when it is written to, thus does not exhibit the typical weaknesses of CBC with re-used
initialization vectors.
The individual sector keys are stored on disk and encrypted with a master key.
LRW: The Liskov-Rivest-Wagner tweakable narrow-block mode, a mode of operation specifically designed
for disk encryption.
Superseded by the more secure XTS mode due to security concerns.
XTS: XEX-based Tweaked CodeBook mode with CipherText Stealing, the SISWG standard for
disk encryption.
See also Cold boot attack
Comparison of encrypted external drives Disk encryption software
Disk encryption theory List of cryptographic file systems
Notes and references
External links DiskCryptor vs Truecrypt - Comparison in between
DiskCryptor and Truecrypt Buyer's Guide to Full Disk Encryption - Overview
of full-disk encryption, how it works, and how it differs from file-level encryption—plus
an overview of leading full-disk encryption software.