I really hate Windows 11! I ran into an issue today with my Dell AIO 5420 I use for sheet music. I powered up the system and had an error message saying that my drives were inaccessible and I needed to obtain my Bitlocker key from my OneDrive. The system was working fine before and I had done the dastardly thing of shutting the system down properly the other day. The addition of Bitlocker was done without any kind of warning and was done silently during a Windows update. After causing heart palpitations and the onset of tremors, I was able to log in. There was some kind of hiccup that caused the OS not to find the bitlocker and I rebooted my machine after going into the recovery options.
After that, I disabled bitlocker.
Settings ----> System ----> Storage ----> Advanced storage settings ----> Disks and volumes, then got the properties on the volumes (drives) on the second part below. There are two "properties" pulldowns. The topmost ones show the yeah, okay, so what, kind of information while the lower properties provide the information needed including an option to turn bitlocker off including "Turn Bitlocker off" in tiny text.
Out of curiosity, I checked the internet for other information about this and came upon this interesting article.
windowsforum.com
Like any other end-point encryptions (EPE), including the disastrous McAfee EPE, is to prevent someone else from accessing your data if your computer is stolen. I can see this as important on laptops, such as those in a business, but in my case, I don't have anything on my laptop other than Trainz and some utilities, and my desktop PCs and All-in-One are used for games and Music. If I do have any documents, they are kept on an external drive in an enclosure including all my Trainz data for my desktop PC.
The other issue mentioned in the article is disk performance. Some SSDs, especially older ones, will suffer up to a 45% performance drop. From what I remember about McAfee EPE, this was very noticeable with the old Toshiba drives in the company laptops, and this can become an issue with inexpensive laptops with inexpensive drives.
Endpoint encryption is an overlay that requires software to pass the data through much like the old drive resize software used to allow 40GB drives to work on systems that couldn't support them. If the drivespace.bin file was removed, so was all your data. Bitlocker like EPE, also puts additional processing on the CPU to manage the encryption and decryption of data on the fly.
The difference between Microsoft's Bitlocker and McAfee EPE is Bitlocker is managed locally and your key is kept up on your OneDrive. McAfee's awful "solution" had a company server that managed the logins and keys. This alone presents a problem as outlined in the article. You lose your login to OneDrive, you lose access to your local system period, the end.
In the end, it's up to you to weigh the options. I chose to go back to how things used to be because I see no reason for my drives to be locked.
After that, I disabled bitlocker.
Settings ----> System ----> Storage ----> Advanced storage settings ----> Disks and volumes, then got the properties on the volumes (drives) on the second part below. There are two "properties" pulldowns. The topmost ones show the yeah, okay, so what, kind of information while the lower properties provide the information needed including an option to turn bitlocker off including "Turn Bitlocker off" in tiny text.
Out of curiosity, I checked the internet for other information about this and came upon this interesting article.
The 2025 Windows BitLocker Controversy: What You Need to Know
With the arrival of Windows 11 version 24H2, a fierce debate has erupted in the global Windows community, marking what many now term “The BitLocker Controversy of 2025.” Microsoft’s long-standing approach to device encryption—once the provenance of IT administrators and security...
windowsforum.com
Like any other end-point encryptions (EPE), including the disastrous McAfee EPE, is to prevent someone else from accessing your data if your computer is stolen. I can see this as important on laptops, such as those in a business, but in my case, I don't have anything on my laptop other than Trainz and some utilities, and my desktop PCs and All-in-One are used for games and Music. If I do have any documents, they are kept on an external drive in an enclosure including all my Trainz data for my desktop PC.
The other issue mentioned in the article is disk performance. Some SSDs, especially older ones, will suffer up to a 45% performance drop. From what I remember about McAfee EPE, this was very noticeable with the old Toshiba drives in the company laptops, and this can become an issue with inexpensive laptops with inexpensive drives.
Endpoint encryption is an overlay that requires software to pass the data through much like the old drive resize software used to allow 40GB drives to work on systems that couldn't support them. If the drivespace.bin file was removed, so was all your data. Bitlocker like EPE, also puts additional processing on the CPU to manage the encryption and decryption of data on the fly.
The difference between Microsoft's Bitlocker and McAfee EPE is Bitlocker is managed locally and your key is kept up on your OneDrive. McAfee's awful "solution" had a company server that managed the logins and keys. This alone presents a problem as outlined in the article. You lose your login to OneDrive, you lose access to your local system period, the end.
In the end, it's up to you to weigh the options. I chose to go back to how things used to be because I see no reason for my drives to be locked.
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