Im having trouble finding out what to do when using bitlocker and TPM in the event of a main Hard Drive failure. I have a mobo with TPM chip (Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P). I will have one 500GB harddrive, and have another 500GB harddrive to use for backup. If the main HD fails for some reason and I have to buy a new HD, would this require:1) Installing W7 from installation CD onto new HD? (Assuming yes,...then:2) after installing W7 onto new HD, would backup be able to be restored to new W7 HD when previously encrypted?--OR--3) Is it possible to buy a new HD and simply use the backup HD to restore everything to the new HD when previously encrypted?---OR---4) am i totally screwed to recover backup data when encrypted and my main HD fails?

The backup is not encrypted. However you can encrypt the drive that you store the backup on.

You need to reinstall the Windows 7 system on new HD. Please backup or remember the password and the encrypt key. After installing the new system, you can restore the backup data using the password and the key. I included detailed information for your reference: BitLocker Drive Encryption in Windows 7: Frequently Asked QuestionsHope it helps.Vivian Xing - MSFT

thank you