Encrypted SSD on PXIe 8135

[Fernie]

Hello,

I am setting up a PXIe 8135 that came equipped with the Intel SSD that NI offers as an option. I was wondering if the PXIe 8135 would be able to work with an encrypted SSD. I know that I can lock the memory by setting up a password on the Web Configuration tool but it would be great if I could also encrypt the SSD and have the ability to unlock it through either MAX, the File Explorer, or the Web Configuration Tool.

Has anyone ever tried this?

[CaseyGj]

Which operating system are you running on your PXI controller?

NI doesn't have an official way to encrypt hard drives on a PXI controller that would interact with MAX, but if you are running Windows, then you would be able to utilize Windows based encryption tools since the PXI controller would basically be a Windows PC.

[Fernie]

Hi Casey,

The PXIe is running on Phar Lap ETS and I typically access it through the Web Configuration tool through a Windows computer that is connected via Ethernet. In order to have access to the PXIe's drive from Window's file explorer, I would have to use the WebDAV tool, to set it up as an external drive. Is that, where I would, both, unlock the encrypted drive using Windows and access its contents with the NI-Authentication tool?

[CaseyGj · Accepted solution]

Ah that makes sense. I had originally thought that you might be using a PXI Controller with Windows on it.

For a PXI controller running PharLap, we unfortunately don't have any supported way for encrypting the hard drive and then being able to access it. You could potentially map the network drive to your computer and use a program to encrypt parts of it, but then only your computer could see that data and your PXI controller would be unable to access or use any data on the drive which I would assume would not be what you wanted. 

However, it is possible that someone else has tried to accomplish this outside of official NI methods, so we can see if anyone else replies here.