Operation Manual
102
Volume Mounted as Removable Medium
This section applies to VeraCrypt volumes mounted when one of the following options is enabled
(as applicable):
Tools > Preferences > Mount volumes as removable media
Mount Options > Mount volume as removable medium
Favorites > Organize Favorite Volumes > Mount selected volume as removable medium
Favorites > Organize System Favorite Volumes > Mount selected volume as removable
medium
VeraCrypt Volumes that are mounted as removable media have the following advantages and
disadvantages:
Windows is prevented from automatically creating the ‘Recycled’ and/or the ‘System
Volume Information’ folders on VeraCrypt volumes (in Windows, these folders are used by
the Recycle Bin and System Restore features).
Windows 8 and later is prevented from writing an Event 98 to the Events Log that
contains the device name (\\device\VeraCryptVolumeXX) of VeraCrypt volumes
formatted using NTFS. This event log "feature" was introduced in Windows 8 as part of
newly introduced NTFS health checks as explained here. Big thanks to Liran Elharar for
discovering this.
Windows may use caching methods and write delays that are normally used for removable
media (for example, USB flash drives). This might slightly decrease the performance but at
the same increase the likelihood that it will be possible to dismount the volume quickly
without having to force the dismount.
The operating system may tend to keep the number of handles it opens to such a volume to
a minimum. Hence, volumes mounted as removable media might require fewer forced
dismounts than other volumes.
Under Windows Vista and earlier, the ‘Computer’ (or ‘My Computer’) list does not show the
amount of free space on volumes mounted as removable (note that this is a Windows
limitation, not a bug in VeraCrypt).
Under desktop editions of Windows Vista or later, sectors of a volume mounted as
removable medium may be accessible to all users (including users without administrator
privileges; see section Multi-User Environment).