TL;DR
Device encryption is the full-disk scrambling, FileVault on Macs, BitLocker on Windows, and built-in encryption on modern phones, that renders all stored data unreadable without the user's password, PIN, or recovery key. For repair work it changes the rules entirely: a shop can replace a screen or battery without it mattering, but no data recovery, drive transplant, or migration can proceed on a locked volume the customer cannot unlock.
What it means
Device encryption is the full-disk scrambling, FileVault on Macs, BitLocker on Windows, and built-in encryption on modern phones, that renders all stored data unreadable without the user's password, PIN, or recovery key. For repair work it changes the rules entirely: a shop can replace a screen or battery without it mattering, but no data recovery, drive transplant, or migration can proceed on a locked volume the customer cannot unlock. Storing the recovery key somewhere other than the encrypted machine itself is the precaution that determines whether a dead laptop is an inconvenience or a data loss.
Where it sits in the glossary
Device encryption is part of the Trade jargon group inside the ProFix Directory glossary. Browse every term in this category from the glossary index.
Why Ohio homeowners should know it
This is a term Ohio homeowners encounter when reading contractor quotes, hiring paperwork, or inspection reports. Understanding it well enough to ask one good follow-up question is usually all the protection a homeowner needs.
ProFix Directory keeps definitions short on the index page and saves the longer context — Ohio-specific rules, where the term comes from, and which ProFix tools touch it — for these per-term pages so the term is easy to cite and easy to share.
ProFix tools that touch this term
See also
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