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How does ATI handle Full DIsk images with a hardware encrypted drive?

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Regarding the restore of a Full disk which is hardware encrypted... I believe that hardware encryption is only possible on an uninitiated drive? So, probably answering my own question here... A full disk image is no good to restore on any drive, new or existing, if hardware encryption is wanted on that drive, correct?

Secondly, a quick discussion on encryption... Although I don't have a lot of sensitive data on my OS drive, I do have my password manager, etc. I'm debating whether to hardware encrypt, or encrypt this drive at all. Alternatives would be greatly appreciated.

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This is not an area where I have any particular expertise, but I would expect that if the drive is unlocked when the backup is made, then the backup should be OK. Before you restore, you would need to ensure that the drive is unlocked. In this regard it would be no different to using Bitlocker. Not sure how you would go attempting to recover using recovery media. 

For any backup you should select the option (if available) for encryption using a strong encryption password.

Ian

I would guess that the answer here will depend on what is meant by 'hardware encryption' and the degree of control that the user has over that encryption?

Self-encrypting drives have been around for many years and from my limited experience with them have been transparent to the user as all encryption was done by the drive hardware, therefore any backups or restores were always of unencrypted data as read from or written to the drive.  I have to say that I question the value of such drives if they self-decrypt on being connected to any PC!

If an Acronis Backup is performed from within Windows when the drive is unlocked, then the backup image would be of the non-encrypted data from the drive.

If the drive can be unlocked in BIOS or from boot media, then any restore would be successful too!

Thanks @Ian and @Steve for the input.

Based on your input, I 'should' be able to restore an image to the drive. However, from how I understand it, I would break the hardware encryption setting. The only way to have hardware encryption would be to start fresh. I'll send support an inquiry about this.

I've learned that the self-encrypting hardware encryption works hand-in-hand with Bitlocker. So, the only way to decrypt the drive on another PC would be with a password. Or, if using TPM, would need the Bitlocker Recovery code for it.

As a footnote to this topic... I decided to go back with software encryption via Bitlocker. Reason... I could not get a straight answer from Acronis support whether or not a full disk restore would break hardware encryption. They don't know and doubt it's ever been tested.

Thanks for the update Scott. There are some things that fall through the cracks with product testing. 

Ian