[groovybassist]

I'm curious if anyone has experience running whole disk encryption on a PC being used as a music server?  If I don't end up with a dedicated PC for music serving, I'd like the option of encrypting the drive to protect data on the multi-purpose PC or laptop (protect tax returns, etc.).  From everything I've read, it should operate as normal and stream music with no problem, but any experiences out there would be appreciated.  Thanks!

[skunark]

I use PGP desktop for windows and don't have a problem as a music server (iTunes).... but whole disk encryption doesn't protect your data when your computer is booted, i.e. when you travel or are away from your computer you should have it powered off.   Also it doesn't protect you from malware or viruses. 

If friends and family also use your computer, I would recommend putting your personal information into an encrypted container (pgp zip) and only unlock it when you need to.  For mac's it's real easy to create an encrypted "dmg" file.

[groovybassist]

Thanks for the feedback.  I'm most concerned about the laptop being stolen when we're not home or traveling, in which case it hopefully isn't booted up.

[lcrim]

Concern for data security is a valid concern.  Certain data, only you can answer this, never belongs on a computer hard drive.  If someone broke into your house and stole your PC or hard drives, I expect they also would take things that would cause much more upset.

I've read of playing stored music from home over an SSH encrypted session to remote sites to a SqueezeBox which looked like it had real value to me.  Making backups of your media files and keeping them offsite makes sense.
Shutting down a PC and requiring both a hardware and software password would solve your concern.

[groovybassist]

The laptop I'll be using is busily working away encrypting the hard drive using Bitlocker in Win7.  I'll know soon enough if encryption is an issue!  Going to look into encryption for our iMac as well.