Random read IOPS dropped by 20 percent again compared to the hardware BitLocker and unencrypted results. There was no ignoring the fact, however, that BitLocker slowed things down, as tests with CrystalDiskMark 8 proved: Not all of the tests showed a horrifying performance hit, with results varying between different types of task that were being tested. Tests showed an increased in latency and a decrease in transfer rates to a degree that was noticeable without the need for benchmarking.
This was not the case with hardware encryption, or no encryption. The software-based encryption - that is, what Microsoft provides out of the box in Windows 11 Pro - was found to hinder performance dramatically. The tests compared the performance differences between not having BitLocker enabled, having software BitLocker turned on, or using a hardware version of BitLocker. In a series of tests performed by Tom's Hardware, BitLocker badly impacts upon random write and read times, thereby reducing overall system performance.
