To start working with the virtual secret disk, it must be connected (mounted) first, i.e. it must become recognizable for the computer's Windows system. Mounting the virtual disk (permitting to access it) can be carried out in following way. In the Control Panel of the Dekart Private Disk click Disk > Connect. In appeared Connect Private Disk dialog please select the file-image of the virtual encrypted disk and click Open. The software will require to enter access password, as shown in Figure 29.
Figure 29
Entering access password for virtual encrypted disk
After entering the password, the disk becomes visible to the system and it can be used like any other drive on your computer.
Note: If the file-image is located on a network drive, the network resource access password request will follow. Enter the password into the Password field and click OK.
Note: If "Associate with <.dpd> file extension" option was set, you could connect the encrypted virtual disk by double clicking on the file-image in Windows Explorer window.
To finish working with the virtual secret disk (disconnection), click Disk > Disconnect.
If you check the Change option, you will be able to change the disk's password after entering the current one.
There is a possibility to work with several virtual encrypted disks at one time. For this click Disk>Connect and select another file-image.
Figure 30
Working with several virtual encrypted disks at one time.
Note: If on connecting new virtual encrypted disk its disk symbol is occupied the software will display dialog for choosing another letter (see Figure 31) Select another disk symbol and click OK.
Figure 31
Choosing another letter for virtual encrypted disk
To stop working with the virtual encrypted disk click Disk > Disconnect.
You can also connect/disconnect virtual encrypted disk using a popup menu. To access this menu, please right click the Private Disk systray icon. Select the desired action from the menu items list (Figure 32). In case there are several connected disk, please select the desired disk letter in the Disconnect Disk menu to disconnect this disk.
Figure 32
Mounting/unmounting virtual disk using popup menu
To disconnect all the currently connected disk at once, click Disconnect all disks.
The third way to disconnect the virtual drives is to automate the process, by enabling the Disconnect all disks at time-out and/or the Disconnect all disks at stand by options in Private Disk's settings. In this case, the drives will be dismounted either when the system is inactive for a defined period of time, or when the computer hibernates. Note: If Check for open files before disconnecting is enabled, the virtual disk will not be dismounted if some of the files that reside on the disk are in use.
To prevent possible data losses, close all applications using data on the disk before disconnecting the disk.