Michael D. Berger wrote:
I recently obtained a 2T external drive for my
XP laptop, and I would like to copy directories
(folders) to it with strong encryption. What
software should I use?

Leonard Grey wrote:
There must be hundreds of strong encryption utilities. How would you
like us to decide which one to suggest to you?

Or were you thinking: If someone in a newsgroup recommends
something, I guess it's worth a try.

John Wunderlich wrote:
There's nothing wrong with asking for an opinion or recommendation.
If I needed a plumber, I'd probably go with what my neighbor
recommends rather than what pops up in Google...

Leonard Grey wrote:
What makes you think that somebody who posts to a newsgroup is
better qualified than Google to provide a recommendation?

When I needed a plumber I also consulted friends and
neighbors...but I only asked people whom I felt were qualified to
give me good advice. And I described in detail the work I needed
done, to better find a plumber who was experienced in doing that
kind of work. I didn't ask "know any good plumbers?"

John Wunderlich wrote:
IMHO, Any input based on human personal experience beats a machine
that spits out links to web pages matching a word or two.

The decision would still mine to make.

Suggestions - of any sort - should be all the OP could expect from their
request. No one suggested Google until "John Wunderlich" brought it into
the conversation.

Perhaps after finding the name of a few utilities, continue the search and
maybe do searches like...

TrueCrypt opinions
or
TrueCrypt reviews

(Based of responses so far.)

Then you get people's opinions en-masse on said subject.

Here - you might get one or two opinions/names - maybe a few more. And you
might even get some from some people who know little or nothing beyond what
they have tried or just Googled for and started using without doing the
secondary research.

I'm not saying that asking here is a horrible route - but it should not, by
any means, be the only thing done. Further research should be suggested and
done.

As for your neighbor analogy - really? Here you don't know anyone, they
don't live right next to you and you don't have the access to them like you
do your neighbor. No face-to-face, sorry I suggested that plumber
possibility later. No where near the same. Too many times I have seen
people posting here under other peoples names and unless one looks closely -
it can fool most people. Not so much with your neighbor - in most cases.

I would suggest researching based off the responses here, any information
(names of software) you find on an Internet Search Engine of your choice,
any you find on the software download pages (where often things get rated
and ranked by many many users who were specifically looking ofr and trying a
certain type of software for their own use) etc.

--
Shenan Stanley
MS-MVP
--
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html