Need to format a drive for "research purposes"

Hi Guys

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Id like to know if its possible to encrypt a hard disk so the drive can only be mounted with a password. If its mounted it should stay unlocked so i can connect it to my tv and view the files. After that, I go to my pc and lock it again. Is there any way to do this somehow? Maybe if there's a possibility to just enter the password when I want to open a folder on my tv would be an option as well tell me about that too.

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Thanks

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Edit: Essentially what I want is a software independent lock for my hard drive (or at least I can leave it in an unlocked state so it is -until locked- software independent)