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Elba vs BitLocker: disk vs folder, two layers of the same idea

BitLocker encrypts your Windows disk while the machine is off. Elba encrypts a specific folder while your logged-in user is present. They defend against different attackers, and running both is the normal, correct setup — not a redundancy.

At a glance

Elba compared with BitLocker
 ElbaBitLocker
Unit of protectionA folder you chooseThe whole drive
Protects a powered-off stolen laptopYes, for the sealed folderYes, for everything
Protects while you are logged inYesNo — the disk is unlocked
Admin rights neededNoYes
Windows edition requiredAny — it's a browserPro / Enterprise / Education
Works on Mac, Linux, ChromeOSYesNo
Recovery key held byOnly youOften your Microsoft or work account
PriceOne-time, falling yearlyBundled with Windows Pro

Two different attackers

BitLocker answers one question: what happens when someone takes the machine while it is off and pulls the drive out. The answer is an unreadable blob. That is a real and important protection, and if you are on Windows Pro you should have it on.

It answers nothing about the moment you are logged in. Once Windows has booted and you have signed in, the disk is transparently decrypted for every process, every synced folder, every backup agent, and anyone who sits down at your unlocked screen. To them the drive is plain.

Elba covers that second window. A sealed folder stays sealed while you are logged in, and only opens when you type the passphrase into Elba itself.

The recovery-key question

BitLocker's recovery key is frequently escrowed to your Microsoft account or, on a work machine, to your employer's directory. That is a sensible default for a company that must recover a departed employee's laptop. It also means the encryption is not exclusively yours.

Elba has no escrow, no recovery, and no back door. Forget the passphrase and the folder is gone. That is a real cost, stated plainly, and it is the price of nobody else holding a key.

When BitLocker alone is enough

If your only concern is a stolen laptop, BitLocker is sufficient and you do not need Elba. If you share the machine with nobody, sync nothing to the cloud, and never hand the laptop to a repair shop, the second layer buys you little.

When you want the folder layer too

You share a household computer. Your work laptop is managed and you keep a small number of genuinely personal files on it. A sync client watches your whole user folder and you would rather it uploaded ciphertext. You are on Windows Home, where BitLocker device encryption may not be available at all. In each case the folder layer does something the disk layer cannot.

What happens on a repaired or resold machine

A laptop that goes to a repair shop is handed over unlocked more often than anyone admits — the technician needs to boot it to test the fix. BitLocker is no help in that moment, because the disk is being decrypted for them by design.

The same applies to a machine you resell, hand down, or return at the end of a lease. Disk wipes fail, drives get imaged first, and old backups outlive the hardware. A folder that was sealed with its own passphrase stays sealed through all of it.

Backups are the quiet gap

BitLocker protects the drive in the laptop. It does nothing for the copy on the external disk you back up to weekly, or the folder your sync client mirrored to a provider's servers, or the image your employer's endpoint tool keeps.

Because Elba seals the files themselves rather than the volume they sit on, the protection travels with them. A backup of a sealed folder is a backup of ciphertext.

Who Elba is for

Elba is for the person who already has BitLocker on and still has one folder they would not want read by a colleague, a family member, a backup service, or a repair technician. It is the drawer inside the locked house.

Questions people actually ask

Is BitLocker enough on its own?
For a stolen powered-off laptop, largely yes. For a specific 'this folder is nobody else's business' requirement while you are logged in, no.
Does Elba conflict with BitLocker?
No. Elba's sealed folder sits happily inside a BitLocker-encrypted volume, and neither tool knows about the other.
I'm on Windows Home and don't have BitLocker. Does Elba replace it?
Not fully. Elba protects the folder you seal, not the rest of the disk. It does cover the files you care about most, which for many Home users is the practical need.
Can my employer read an Elba folder on a managed laptop?
Not the sealed contents — those are encrypted with your passphrase. But a managed laptop can run software that captures what you do while the folder is open. Elba protects files at rest, not a compromised machine.
Does Elba need administrator rights?
No. It is a web page running in your browser, which is exactly why it works on locked-down machines where BitLocker settings are out of reach.
What if I forget the Elba passphrase — is there a recovery key like BitLocker's?
No. There is no recovery key and no escrow. That is deliberate, and it means you must record the passphrase somewhere safe yourself.

Quick answers

Take the island

Elba is one HTML file. It runs locally in a Chromium browser, seals a folder with AES-256-GCM, never phones home, and becomes open source on 1 January 2030.

  1. €49MMXXVI· now ·
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the price falls each year · free to all 1 jan 2030

Take the island — €49
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