Password protecting hard drives in XP

Can this be done? I need to password protect my backup drive and I cant figure out how :/.

Any info is appreciated.

I would highly advise not to. If you really want to, then get a utility called HDPWD (I think), boot into DOS and lock it. However, if there is anything wrong with the HDD, then password may change. And there is virtually NO way to turn it off. Its not like password in Windows which is easily bypassed or reinstall windows.

If your HDD starts to go, and Password gets currupted, then your HDD is as good as dead. Its impossible to remove the password ( unless primary pass is still intact) without proper equipment and training.

In XP, and all NT-based OS's for that matter, this is done with NTFS permissions... the password protection of a folder or file (including access to a drive) is provided by the file attributes and user rights set on specific objects. Without using a third-party app, password protection in XP is only available for compressed folders. If you'd like to learn more about file/folder permissions in XP Home/Pro...

HOW TO: Set, View, Change, or Remove File and Folder Permissions in Windows
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;EN-US;q308418&

If you're running the Home version of XP, you can get around the "Simple File Sharing" issue by booting up in Safe Mode (use NTFS permissions to restrict access to a drive/folder). Otherwise, if you don't mind using text interface commands, you can use the cacls.exe command line tool (located in the %Systemroot%\System32 directory) in normal mode to modify the permissions. If you're intent on password protecting your drive, you might want to have a look at Folder Guard for that purpose...

http://www.winability.com/folderguard/