[trinu]

I have used password protected (256-bit AES) 7-zip archives for years, but was wondering what advantages and/or disadvantages there would be if I switched to TrueCrypt.

[LincolnSpector]

Hi, trina.

There are several advantages:

• Anyone can view the file names in an encrypted zip file, even if they can't open the files. File names may include clues to something you don't want known.
• The act of editing a file can leave traces of that file on your hard drive, or more specifically, on the partition on which the file resides. But with TrueCrypt, the partition is the encrypted file, so those traces are encrypted automatically.
• It's a lot simpler. Every time you alter a file in a .zip file, you're asked if you really want to do that. With TrueCrypt, it's just Windows accessing another "drive."

LIncoln