TrueCrypt 6.1 Tested and Performance Compared
 

TrueCrypt 6.1 is a mature security solution that not only allows users to create encrypted containers and map them into their system environments as if they were physical drives, but also permits encrypting an entire system partition or hard drive. This means that all of the data on the hard drive, including temporary files, will always be encrypted using the algorithm of your choice. TrueCrypt can be considered one of the most comprehensive and secure solutions, which is the reason why several hardware manufacturers bundle TrueCrypt with their storage products. But you don’t need to buy anything to get it: you can download the latest version for free.

We found that TrueCrypt had a performance impact on several benchmarks, but the impact is not noticeable if you work with popular desktop applications, in a reasonable manner, using a single encryption algorithm. Depending on the application or benchmark, the real-time encryption/decryption may have a noticeable impact. Using a fast multi core processor and a fast system drive, preferably a Flash SSD, widens this bottleneck to an extent that makes TrueCrypt almost transparent—power users will complain, but most average users will not.

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