Encrypting a hard drive

Hey guys, what would you recommend for encrypting a HDD? The HDD is 750 GB and serves as storage for downloads and movies. I don’t want anyone to gain access to it.
I googled and found TrueCrypt, is it any good or would you recommend something else?
Answer #1
TrueCrypt, is it any good
Yeah it’s great, Go with that.
If your sharing your PC with other ppl, It’d be a good idea to make the partition hidden (from disk management) to prevent
others from formatting it by accident.
Answer #2
Roberto400 replied: TrueCrypt, is it any good
Yeah it's great, Go with that.
If your sharing your PC with other ppl, It'd be a good idea to make the partition hidden (from disk management) to prevent
others from formatting it by accident.
I am sharing only one folder with homegroup. Can they still get access to it when I encrypt the HDD?
EDIT: can it also be used for external HDDs?
Answer #3
Sevada replied: I am sharing only one folder with homegroup. Can they still get access to it when I encrypt the HDD?
Of course! As long as the partition/container is mounted (as in authenticated to) it’d be just as accessible as it is now.
You weren’t clear enough so I’d just like to point out the following just in-case, You should never share a folder containing “private” data over the network.
Sevada replied: can it also be used for external HDDs?
Yep.
Answer #4
http://www.truecrypt.org/
Answer #5
Roberto400 replied: Sevada replied: I am sharing only one folder with homegroup. Can they still get access to it when I encrypt the HDD?
Of course! As long as the partition/container is mounted (as in authenticated to) it'd be just as accessible as it is now.
You weren't clear enough so I'd just like to point out the following just in-case, You should never share a folder containing "private" data over the network.
Sevada replied: can it also be used for external HDDs?
Yep.
Thanks, appreciate the help! And no, no private data is shared over the network; just a folder containing movies.