Container Types

Starting with v.9, BestCrypt features creating containers of two types. Depending on their needs, one may either create Regular or Dynamic containers.


Regular containers are encrypted storages of a fixed size BestCrypt users are familiar with. The amounts of physical and virtual disk space allocated by such containers are equal and constant. Therefore the size of a regular container is limited with an amount of free space on the volume it is created on.

Since a large amount of space is allocated for the container file right away and it has to be randomized (i.e. wiped with random pattern) to secure the data stored inside, the process may take a long time, especially for large containers. BestCrypt users have two options to perform the action:

Dynamic (or size-efficient) containers unlike Regular ones, allocate less physical disk space than their virtual size is. The space initially occupied by such containers is rather small compared to their capacity. The size of that space grows with files being added inside. Therefore the size of a dynamic container is limited with the size of the volume it is created on. That allows user creating 40Gb container on a volume with only 4Gb free space.

Smart Free Space Monitoring – Jetico innovative technology that indicates actual amount of disk space available, warns on low disk space occasions and prevents from system crashes and data loss switching container to read-only mode if needed.

Since little space is allocated initially and randomizing disk space is not required, Dynamic containers are created instantly and may be accessed right after they are formatted.


NOTE: Dynamic containers can be created on NTFS-formatted partitions only


NOTE: Deleting files inside dynamic containers does not reduce the amount of space allocated by a container file.


NOTE: Being moved or copied to another drive, dynamic container loses its dynamic properties. It becomes regular with a size equal to its capacity.


See also: