Password protect external drives and/or folders

I hope this is the right place to post this. I'm trying to figure out how I can password-protect an external hard drive and/or folder on my computer. Running 64 bit Windows 7.

Thanks

 

I have kept this question of yours for a while cos I wanted to use such a thing myself.
In case you haven't found the answer, I have one.

I have tried TrueCrypt and find it a touch too complicated. Mounting and demounting to gain access to your protected drive or to prevent access means making sure you had TrueCrypt installed at all times - no.

Easiest one to use is Safehouse
http://www.safehousesoftware.com/SafeHouseExplorer.aspx

Use this with a simple program called Prevent to stop your created volume from being accidentally or deliberately deleted.
For your information I was able to both rename its desktop shortcut and change its icon so nobody looking at my pc could guess I had a delete preventer on my pc.

Link is below:
http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/System-Miscellaneous/Prevent.shtml

Let me know what you think or if you have found an alternative.