What is BitLocker?

BitLocker is a full volume encryption feature included in Microsoft Windows since Vista. It's designed to encrypt an entire drive so as to prevent unauthorized access to your private data, as well as to protect your data on that device from changes or malicious uses. You can use BitLocker Drive Encryption to encrypt the internal hard drives of your PC and use BitLocker To Go to encrypt removable storage media, including USB flash drives, external hard drives, SD memory cards and much more.

Windows operating systems and editions that support BitLocker Drive Encryption:

  • Windows 11 (Pro, Enterprise, Edu)
  • Windows 10 (Pro, Enterprise, Edu)
  • Windows 8/8.1 (Pro, Enterprise)
  • Windows Vista/7 (Ultimate, Enterprise)
  • Windows Server 2008 and later

To turn on BitLocker encryption in system drives, it requires a Trusted Platform Module (TPM) chip on your PC's motherboard.

Is It Possible to Recover Data from BitLocker?

YES, but to recover data from a BitLocker encrypted drive, you need to unlock the drive first. The BitLocker password and 48-digit BitLocker recovery key are used to unlock the encrypted drive. If you forgot the password or the password failed to unlock the BitLocker encrypted drive, alternatively use the recovery key that you might have saved to your Microsoft account, USB flash drive, a document, or some other places.

How to find your BitLocker recover key >>

Free BitLocker Recovery Software Applicable for Various Data Loss Scenarios

iBoysoft BitLocker Recovery is a one-stop BitLocker data recovery software that supports rescuing deleted or lost files from BitLocker encrypted drives and getting back data from formatted, inaccessible, corrupted, or partition-lost BitLocker encrypted drives.

Recover Deleted/Lost Files from BitLocker Encrypted Drives

If you deleted files from BitLocker encrypted drives by mistakenly clicking "Delete" or pressing the Shift - Delete shortcut keys, or intentionally deleted them and emptied the Recycle Bin but regret to do that later, you can use iBoysoft BitLocker Recovery to recover the deleted or lost data.

This well-designed BitLocker data recovery software supports restoring different types of deleted files, such as photos, videos, office files, music files, and emails from BitLocker encrypted drives, as long as the deleted files haven't been overwritten.

Recover Data from Formatted BitLocker Encrypted Drives

A formatted drive has become empty as all contents on it are wiped out. Don't be fret. This BitLocker data recovery tool is able to restore files from the BitLocker encrypted drive as long as it was formatted in Windows XP or by a third-party formatting tool.

If the BitLocker encrypted drive is formatted in Disk Management or Windows File Explorer on Windows 11/10/8/7/Vista, the BitLocker metadata of the drive is erased too. This situation is beyond the ability of any BitLocker data recovery software or services.

Recover Data from Inaccessible/RAW/Corrupted BitLocker Encrypted Drives

This professional BitLocker data recovery program is available for recovering data from inaccessible, failed, RAW, or corrupted BitLocker encrypted drives with ease.

Whether your BitLocker encrypted drives are corrupted due to a file system corruption, operating system crash, virus attack, or your incorrect operation, this tool can scan the files on it and help you locate what you want quickly.

How to recover data from corrupted/failed BitLocker drive? >>

Recover Data from Deleted/Lost BitLocker Encrypted Partitions

Whether the partitions in the BitLocker encrypted drives are lost for accidental deletion or disk corruption, iBoysoft BitLocker Recovery can give you a hand to recover the deleted or lost BitLocker encrypted partitions.

Enhanced with advanced algorithms in searching for deleted or lost partitions from BitLocker encrypted drives, iBoysoft BitLocker Recovery can scan the whole disk to search for the deleted or lost partitions. Once the partitions have been found, this program will recover them as easily as ABC.

1. Install

2. Locate & Decrypt

3. Scan

5. Recover

Full Tutorial

  • 1

    Download and install iBoysoft BitLocker Recovery.

  • 2

    Select the BitLocker encrypted drive and click Next to enter the password or 48-digit recovery key to unlock it.

  • 3

    Wait for iBoysoft BitLocker Recovery to scan the lost data.

  • 4

    Once the scan is completed, you will see the found files. Preview the listed documents, photos and play videos, audio before recovering.

  • Launch iBoysoft BitLocker Recovery
  • Enter BitLocker password or recovery key
  • iBoysoft BitLocker Recovery is scanning data
  • View the scan results in iBoysoft BitLocker Recovery
iBoysoft Data Recovery icon

The Best BitLocker Recovery Software - iBoysoft BitLocker Recovery

Try this reliable, secure, and easy-to-operate BitLocker data recovery software to rescue your lost or deleted Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, PDFs, photos, videos, audio files, etc. from your BitLocker encrypted hard drives, USB drives, SD cards, or other devices.

Supported storage devices

Hard drive, external hard drive, USB drive, SD card, CF card, memory card, SanDisk card, memory stick, etc. (RAID is not included.)

System requirements

Supported OS: Windows 11/10/8/7/Vista/XP and Windows Server 2019/2016/2012/2008/2003

Supported file systems: FAT32, NTFS and exFAT

How to enable BitLocker encryption on Windows 11/10?

First, only Windows 11/10 Pro, Enterprise, and Education editions support BitLocker Drive Encryption. Second, if you want to encrypt the operating system drive, a Trusted Platform Module (TPM) chip on your PC's motherboard is required.

Then, you can follow the steps as below.

Step 1: Go to the Control Panel, locate the BitLocker Drive Encryption and click the link to Turn on BitLocker. You can also right click the drive you want to encrypt and choose Turn on BitLocker from the context menu.

Step 2: Follow the wizard to create a recovery password to unlock the drive.

Step 3: Choose a method to store your recovery key. You can save to your Microsoft account, save to a USB flash drive, save to a file, or print it out on a paper.

Step 4: Choose how you wish to encrypt your drive, used space only or the entire drive.

Step 5: Choose which encryption mode to use, new encryption mode or compatible mode.

Step 6: Click Start encrypting.

How to disable BitLocker encryption?

If you want to disable BitLocker encryption on your drive (either a system drive or a non-system drive), you need to firstly unlock it with a password or recovery key. Then, right click any BitLocker encrypted drive and choose Manage BitLocker, on the BitLocker control panel window, you can back up your recovery key, change/remove password, add smart card, turn on auto-unlock, or turn off BitLocker.

Can I unlock BitLocker without password and recovery key?

No, you can't. You can only unlock a BitLocker encrypted drive with the password or its corresponding recovery key.

What causes BitLocker to ask for the recovery key?

Normally, your device is automatically unlocked when you sign in the operating system with an authorized account. However, you will be prompted to enter the recovery key if:

1. You try to access the system by booting from a Windows 10 Setup drive or a Linux-based USB boot drive;

2. You have changed the motherboard so that the operating system doesn't recognize the TPM any longer.

If you are the administrator of an organization, say, a school, a company, etc., you can use a recovery key to access data on any device in the local network.

How do I know if BitLocker is enabled on my computer?

You can check in the File Explorer. If you see a lock icon besides a drive, then this drive is BitLocker encrypted.

Can I use my computer while BitLocker is encrypting?

Yes.

Can I open/access a BitLocker encrypted drive on Mac?

By default, no. Neither Microsoft nor Apple offers a way to open a BitLocker encrypted drive on Mac computer. However, you can read and write to BitLocker encrypted drive with a BitLocker for Mac tool.

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