Is EFS secure?

Jordus said:

Just make sure you back up your key so you dont lose it all.

That's why I spent a lot of time exporting and importing certificates into different accounts to make sure I was doing it right.

After doing some research, while not as simple as I initially thought, it seems that there is sufficient doubt as to whether EFS can't be compromised if someone has physical access to your machine. Is there an easy way to store the key off the machine?

sup3rsprt said:

Besides, I can encrypt a file with EFS right now, then reset the user's password and I'm still able to decrypt the file from another account using EFS recovery tools (I only need to know the users previous password).

Sorry for posting to an old thread, but i just wanted to know if this is really true. And if it is, does it apply to my case? To put it short: i encrypted data, formatted c:, reinstalled windows and couldn't access my encrypted files any longer. I know, i should've backed up my encryption key...However i still remember my password i used for encryption.

I've been googling for 2 months for an answer now, without a success. So i'd really appreciate if you answer me, sup3rsprt!

Not sure of you've found what your looking for, but this tool should help you out (kind of answers all the previous questions about EFS really!)

Decrypt and recover files protected with the Encrypting File System (EFS)