TrueCrypt

In case you didn't know about it or wondered if it could be done, yes, you can have a virtual encrypted drive at your disposal. TrueCrypt can not only make a virtual encrypted disk, but can encrypt an entire partition and or disk. I haven't tested the preboot capabilities yet, note that, YET. But I am using it to store documents(essays, powerpoints, etc) and the like. I'm really impressed by it despite a rather large drawback, you need Administrator rights to install the drivers for mounting a volume. Regardless it works for home systems as well as for portable use as you can name the drivers anything so as to make for good camouflage. And even more you have the option to extract rather than install the program so you can run it from a USB device. I'm very please with how easy it is to use, with multiple options for an added level of security. And in case I forgot to mention this, it's free. So if you have anything you don't want others to have easy access to, this would be a good solution to keeping private data private.