Truecrypt

As far as my research takes me, Truecrypt is just as good as paid encryption services, IF you use it right. Oddbrew - if you download Truecrypt, make sure to read the instruction manual that comes with it. MAKE SURE TO BACK UP YOUR INFORMATION FIRST. While it is not that difficult to use, there is a very good chance you will screw something up if you are not a techie, and a backup solves that issue. Invest in at least one external hard drive. Preferably one for a solid backup (set aside until you are comfortable with the program), and one to play with.

The one you play with, go ahead and practice some things you don't really NEED to know, like partitioning, data erasure programs, and finally Truecrypt. The first two will help you conceptualize how data works on your computer.

With Truecrypt, follow the instructions. I recommend a hidden volume. Imagine filling millions of pages of a journal with the numbers 1 and 0 (which is what computers actually use). Someone looking at the paper would not know if you had a code or if it was just random 1's and 0's. If they force you to disclose your password and decode the 1's and 0's, you are screwed. HOWEVER... if you insert a hidden volume, it is like having a whole segment of your journal with a second level of encryption. It has its own password. Without that second password, an observer can not prove that there is anything besides random 1's and 0's. Initially, they know you have an encrypted device, and a court can order you to provide the password. But they can't order you to provide the second password because the can't prove it even exists! This is called "Plausible Deniability."

One more way to phrase it is to picture a beach covered in sand. Pretend you have organized all of those grains into a pattern. They can prove you have a beach and can make you decode any patterns in the sand that you have made. But they can't prove, out of all that sand, that a secondary level of patterns even exists.

I hope this clarifies things a little, but I probably only succeeded in deterring you from trying. At least download Truecrypt and read their manual.