se
Bit ntire
disk;t edin
Windows 10 , wever,and
maybeoverkillifyouneedtoprotect
justa fewsensitiveitems.A simpler
solutionistouseNTFS’sbuilt-in
encryptioneature,nownas
EncryptingFileSystem,orEFS.
Aswithcompression,youcan
applyencryptiontoa fileor folderby
openingitsPropertieswindow,
clickingtheAdvancedtabandticking
therelevantbox.Thismight notseem
tohaveanyimmediateeffect,butif
youlook closelyinExplorer you’ll
seethattheiconsforencryptedfiles
arenowoverlaidwithpadlock
symbols.Youcanmakethemmore
conspicuousbyswitchingtothe
ViewtabinExplorer,clicking
OptionstoopentheFolderoptions
dialog,thenswitchingtothis
window’sViewtabandticking“Show
encryptedorcompressedNTFSfiles
incolour”.Withthissettingenabled,
thenames ofencryptedfileswill
appearingreen,whilecompressed
oneswillbeshowninblue.
Although your selectedfilesare
nowencrypted,you’llstillbeableto
openandsavethemjustasbefore.
Thisis becausetheencryptionkeyis
tiedto yourWindowsuseraccount;
aslongasyou’relogged on,Windows
automaticallydecodes and
re-encryptsitemsasneeded,using
theindustry-standardRSAalgorithm.
However,ifanyoneelse logsonand
triestoopenyour filesthey’ll justsee
anerror– andiftheyinspectthedata
fromoutsideofWindows,allthey’ll
findis an impenetrableblockof
seeminglyrandombytes.WhileEFSisgreatforprotecting
sensitivedata,itcomeswitha
warning.Whenyoufirstenable
encryption,Windowswillprompt
youto backupyour encryptionkey
toremovablemedia; youshould
definitelydothis.Otherwise,if
youloseaccesstoyour Windows
account, you’llalsoloseaccessto
yourencryptionkey– andhenceto
allyour encrypteditems.NTFSCANRECOVER
LOSTDATA
OneofNTFS’sunsungfeaturesisits
abilitytostoremultiplestreamsof
datawithina singlefile– whichcan
includeolderversionsofrecently
updatedfiles.Thistechnology
underpinsWindows’slightly
sinister-soundingVolumeShadow
Copyservice,whichisusedby
Windows’SystemRestoretorollback
thestateof your Registryandsystem
filesifyourcomputerismisbehaving.
TheShadowCopyservicecanalso
restore personalfilesthathavebeen
overwritten.Tobrowseolderversions
ofa file,right-clickonit,select
Properties,thenclickonthePrevious
versionstabto browse (andoptionally
restore)the availablesnapshots.
Ifyoudon’tseeanythinghere,
it’sprobablybecauseWindows
automaticallymanagestheamount
ofspacethat’sreservedforshadow
copies, andithasa tendencyto
zealouslypurgeolddata.Microsoft
offerssomeadvancedadministrative
toolsformanagingshadow copies–ABOVEMakesure
youbackupyour
encryptionkeyto
removablemediaRIGHTNTFSisthe
defaultoptionfor
formattinganew
harddiskWinFS:Thenext-generationfilesystemthatneverwasAlthoughNTFSworksfineformostpeople’sneeds,ithasn’tbeenupdatedinmore
than 20 years.Surelysomeone’shadsomefreshideasaboutdatastoragesincethen?
Someonehas.In2003,Microsoftunveiledthefirstbetaofawholenewfilesystem
calledWinFS.Strictlyspeaking,thiswasanextensionthatsatontopofNTFS,butit
broughtaradicalnewapproachtostorage,treatingthedisknotasasimple
repositoryforbinarydatabutasadatabase.
UnderWinFS,applicationswouldsaveinformationusingstandardisedschemas
forimages,documents,soundfilesandsoforth,withextensivemetadatatodescribe
andexposethecontents.Thisprovidedapowerfulwayforuserstosearchforand
accesstheinformationwithintheirfiles,andforprogramstoextractandusedata
createdbyotherapplications–akeyprincipleofMicrosoft’snext-generation
Longhornproject,whichwouldeventuallybecomeWindowsVista.
However,whileWinFSworkedasaproofofconcept,itwasslowcomparedto
“raw”NTFS,andapplicationsrequiredmajorrewritestotakefulladvantageofit.At
thetime,commentatorPaulThurrottpredictedthat“untilthird-partydevelopers
supportWinFSwithtrulyinnovativeapplications,it’sunlikelythatthistechnologywill
beofmuchinteresttoanyone”.
Vista,meanwhile,wasfallingbehindschedule(theintentionhadbeentolaunch
itin2003;itdidn’tappearuntilfouryearslater).Tokeepthingsmoving,Microsoft
decidedthenewOSwouldlaunchwiththetriedandtestedNTFS,andthatWinFS
wouldbeaddedinatsomelaterdate.Eventually,theprojectwasabandoned.
WhileWinFSisgone,it’snotforgotten.Ina2 013 “askmeanything”sessionon
Reddit,BillGatesidentifiedWinFSasthecancelledMicrosoftprojectthathemost
wishedhadshipped.Inhisview,theideafailedbecauseitwassimply“aheadofits
time”–andhepredictedthattheconceptwouldre-emergeinthecloudera,withthe
serverandclientparsingandunderstandingdatamuchmoredeeplythanatpresent.
ThevisionofWinFScouldyethaveitsday.