Editing TrueCrypt (section)

== Performance ==
TrueCrypt supports [[data parallelism|parallelized]]<ref name=guide-7.1a>{{cite web|title=TrueCrypt User Guide|url=https://www.grc.com/misc/truecrypt/TrueCrypt%20User%20Guide.pdf|publisher=TrueCrypt Foundation|date=7 February 2012|edition=7.1a}}</ref>{{Rp|63}} encryption for [[multiprocessing|multi-core systems]] and, under Microsoft Windows, [[pipeline (computing)|pipelined]] read/write operations (a form of asynchronous processing)<ref name=guide-7.1a />{{Rp|63}} to reduce the performance hit of encryption and decryption. On newer processors supporting the AES-NI instruction set, TrueCrypt supports [[AES instruction set|hardware-accelerated AES]] to further improve performance.<ref name=guide-7.1a />{{Rp|64}} The performance impact of disk encryption is especially noticeable on operations which would normally use [[direct memory access]] (DMA), as all data must pass through the CPU for decryption, rather than being copied directly from disk to RAM.

In a test carried out by ''[[Tom's Hardware]]'', although TrueCrypt is slower compared to an unencrypted disk, the overhead of [[on-the-fly encryption|real-time encryption]] was found to be similar regardless of whether mid-range or state-of-the-art hardware is in use, and this impact was "quite acceptable".<ref>{{cite web | last1 =Schmid | first1 =Patrick | last2 =Roos | first2 =Achim | title =Conclusion | work =System Encryption: BitLocker And TrueCrypt Compared | publisher =Tom's Hardware | date =28 April 2010 | url =http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/bitlocker-truecrypt-encryption,2587-9.html | access-date = 24 May 2014 }}</ref> In another article the performance cost was found to be unnoticeable when working with "popular desktop applications in a reasonable manner", but it was noted that "power users will complain".<ref>{{cite web | last1 =Schmid | first1 =Patrick | last2 =Roos | first2 =Achim | title =Conclusion | work =Protect Your Data With Encryption | publisher =Tom's Hardware | date =28 April 2010 | url =http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/truecrypt-security-hdd,2125-11.html | access-date = 24 May 2014 }}</ref>

=== Incompatibility with FlexNet Publisher and SafeCast ===
{{main|FlexNet Publisher#Issues with bootloaders}}
Installing third-party software which uses [[FlexNet Publisher]] or SafeCast (which are used for preventing [[software piracy]] on products by [[Adobe Systems|Adobe]] such as [[Adobe Photoshop]]) can damage the TrueCrypt bootloader on Windows partitions/drives encrypted by TrueCrypt and render the drive unbootable.<ref>{{cite web | title =Freeze when you reboot a Windows system that has TrueCrypt Disk Encryption software and Adobe applications installed | work =[[Adobe Creative Suite]] Help | publisher =[[Adobe Systems]] | date =16 November 2009 | url =http://helpx.adobe.com/creative-suite/kb/freeze-reboot-windows-system-truecrypt.html | access-date = 24 May 2014 }}</ref> This is caused by the inappropriate design of FlexNet Publisher writing to the first drive track and overwriting whatever non-Windows bootloader exists there.<ref>{{cite web | title =Incompatibilities | work =TrueCrypt Documentation | publisher =TrueCrypt Foundation | url =http://www.truecrypt.org/docs/incompatibilities | archive-url =https://archive.today/20130416014149/http://www.truecrypt.org/docs/incompatibilities | url-status =dead | archive-date =16 April 2013 | access-date =24 May 2014 }}</ref>