Recommendation For Disk Encryption?

[spiderhole]

Can anyone recommend a good program to encrypt data? I have a laptop that I'd like to be able to carry sensitive information but have so far avoided doing so because I don't currently have any reliable encryption system set up.

I'm looking for something that will automatically either encrypt everything in a partition or that will encrypt the entire disc...but I don't want to have to manuall encrypt files individually.

Also, my understanding is that some programs like TrueCrypt encrypt and de-encrypt on-the-fly. If so, what happens when you back up files? Are they backed up in encrypted form, or not?

Anyway, any recommendations would be appreciated, as well as any points/tips of what someone should be looking for in disc encryption....and things that should be avoided.

Thanks.

[Teddy Rogers]

Just a thought, have you checked on your laptop that your BIOS supports HD encryption? If so you can password protect your laptop and also set an encryption password for the hard disk. This way even if your laptop went missing and the person reset your BIOS to run the machine the hard disk would be useless because they would need the encryption key to decrypt your hard disk...

Ted.