EFS & full computer backups

>> If I have an external USB disk & create a full backup image on it, in
>> Vista
>> Ultimate (using the built in image software), can I encrypt it using the
>> EFS
>> & be able to restore it in the normal way via the repair option?

>
> Normally, no. You would have to format the USB disk using NTFS, which is
> possible but not the default. Once you do that, you will be able to use
> EFS.

> The problem is that if your computer goes south and you lose your user
> account and associated EFS certificate, you won't be able to decrypt the
> files unless you have the recovery keys. If you are in a domain
> environment
> your keys would be stored in AD, in which case the concern is much lower.

> "Jesper" <Jesper@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:A07400BC-6F9B-430A-A30B-ECBFA14F2EBA@microsoft.com...

>>> If I have an external USB disk & create a full backup image on it, in
>>> Vista
>>> Ultimate (using the built in image software), can I encrypt it using the
>>> EFS
>>> & be able to restore it in the normal way via the repair option?

>>
>> Normally, no. You would have to format the USB disk using NTFS, which is
>> possible but not the default. Once you do that, you will be able to use
>> EFS.

>
> If this is an external hard drive, you may have already formatted it as
> NTFS.
>

>> The problem is that if your computer goes south and you lose your user
>> account and associated EFS certificate, you won't be able to decrypt the
>> files unless you have the recovery keys. If you are in a domain
>> environment
>> your keys would be stored in AD, in which case the concern is much lower.

>
> And, if you're in a non-domain account, you can always export your
> certificate _AND_ private key to a PFX file, so that you can later recover
> the data that you've encrypted.
>
> There's an article with some details on preparing to recover data from EFS
> at http://www.microsoft.com/technet/com...vp/sv1206.mspx
>
> Alun.
> ~~~~
>

> Hi, thanks for the replies.
> I know abour EFS certificate backups etc & am happy with that.
> My question is whether Vista Ultimate can read a complete restore backup
> file which is encrypted with EFS on an NTFS volume at the recover console &
> perform a complete restore?
> This is using the complete restore option in Vista itself, not with 3rd
> party software.
>
> "Alun Jones" <alun@texis.invalid> wrote in message
> news:u6JczB5WHHA.3500@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...

> > "Jesper" <Jesper@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> > news:A07400BC-6F9B-430A-A30B-ECBFA14F2EBA@microsoft.com...

> >>> If I have an external USB disk & create a full backup image on it, in
> >>> Vista
> >>> Ultimate (using the built in image software), can I encrypt it using the
> >>> EFS
> >>> & be able to restore it in the normal way via the repair option?
> >>
> >> Normally, no. You would have to format the USB disk using NTFS, which is
> >> possible but not the default. Once you do that, you will be able to use
> >> EFS.

> >
> > If this is an external hard drive, you may have already formatted it as
> > NTFS.
> >

> >> The problem is that if your computer goes south and you lose your user
> >> account and associated EFS certificate, you won't be able to decrypt the
> >> files unless you have the recovery keys. If you are in a domain
> >> environment
> >> your keys would be stored in AD, in which case the concern is much lower.

> >
> > And, if you're in a non-domain account, you can always export your
> > certificate _AND_ private key to a PFX file, so that you can later recover
> > the data that you've encrypted.
> >
> > There's an article with some details on preparing to recover data from EFS
> > at http://www.microsoft.com/technet/com...vp/sv1206.mspx
> >
> > Alun.
> > ~~~~
> >

>
>
>