We should protect all internal fixed disks on the Windows 7 SP1 notebooks with BitLocker and have configured the MBAM Policies for that. But external USB Disks should only be encrypted at user request, with storage of the recovery passoword in the MBAM database. But our Windows 7 SP1 x64 test client recognizes an attached USB Disk as "Fixed Disk". Have seen that there is an issue with external eSATA disks and a hotfix http://support.microsoft.com/kb/979344. But this hotfix cannot be installed on Windows 7 SP1. Thank you in advance for any advice how we can archive the goal described at the beginning of this question. Franz

Do you see this behavior with BitLocker Drive Encryption and MBAM UI both. For MBAM UI: Some USB sticks are recognized as fixed drive and you get fixed drive GPOs. There is no resolution at this time for this issue and we are currently working on it. In this case, you might remove MBAM fixed drive GPOs. For BitLocker Control Panel UI: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/979344. This is included in Win7 SP1. Are you sure the drive is e-SATA drive? What is make/model of the drive?Manoj Sehgal