Recently, after encrypting my computer’s SSD with BitLocker, I noticed a significant decrease in write speed. If I were to decrypt the BitLocker encryption now, would it restore the original high speed? Also, I want to know how much performance loss there is when using BitLocker on an SSD, and how to balance between performance and security.
Using BitLocker encryption does indeed decrease the performance of some SSDs, and the degree of impact varies from different version of SSDs. However, once you disable BitLocker, the SSD performance can return to normal. Refer to BitLocker Encryption Impact Your Disk Performance to learn about the different impact of BitLocker's encryption algorithm on HDDs and SSDs in detail.
TomsHardware conducted a study last year and found that enabling BitLocker encryption slows down Samsung 990 Pro SSDs up to a staggering 45%. This indicates that SSD locked with BitLocker has a significant reduce on the random read and write performance.
The primary reason is that enabling BitLocker encryption adds an encryption process during file writing to the hard drive, which is heavily influenced by CPU and algorithms. This can result in varying degrees of slowdown in SSD write speed.
Additionally, when continuously reading encrypted content from the SSD, the CPU may need to sustainably decrypt data, leading to slightly higher CPU usage than usual.
If you do not need to encrypt the data on your computer’s drive, you can choose to disable BitLocker to reduce its performance impact. Refer to "Use cmd to configure BitLocker on Windows System" and use the following command to disable BitLocker (replace the letter "c" with the BitLocker-encrypted drive letter):
manage-bde off C:
Windows system use software BitLocker in default. However, BitLocker also supports Self-Encrypting Drives (SED) or SED-FIPS, which have almost no impact on performance. However, this feature is not enabled by default and requires changes in Group Policy. This operation will be a bit complicated and needs to be chosen cautiously.
It’s important to carefully consider both security and performance when enabling BitLocker on SSDs. However, I still recommend keeping BitLocker enabled to help you prevent malicious intrusions and protect your data.
In general, actually in most cases, uses are unlikely to notice any perceptible difference in performance when BitLocker is enabled on an SSD. So comprehensively consider all factors first and then decide whether to activate BitLocker on your PC.
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For your question, the exact answer is No. You can rest assured that ransomware will completely ignore the unlock drive protected by BitLocker. So, there are only a small possibility ransomware encrypt files in a drive locked by BitLocker.
Lydia
Firstly, the answer for your question is no. If you want to disable bitlocker on your computer, there are two options for you. If the data on your computer is unimportant or you have already backup all files, you can choose to format entire computer disks to disable BitLocker.
Lydia
Yes, you can use BitLocker to encrypt your USB flash drive. In the BitLocker Drive Encryption window, you'll find the "Removable data drives - BitLocker To Go" feature, specifically designed for encrypting removable data drives like USB flash drives and external hard drives.
Benjamin
It is right that Windows 11 Home does not come with BitLocker encryption. But Windows 11 Home users can access the BitLocker encrypted drive with password. If you want to encrypt the USB flash drive or externa hard drive, 2 workable solutions are listed here.
Michael
