There used to be a software called TrueCrypt that could encrypt your drive, but that was discontinued. Bitlocker To Go for Windows is also a good choice.
The successor of TrueCrypt is
VeraCrypt.
Definitely recommendable. Not like Bitlocker which i would avoid whenever possible.
also, the external drives are easy to drive damage and most of them die when they fall. I lost two devices because of that
This mostly happens to mechanical disks. SSD's aren't that prone to damage by falling.
Or did this happen to you with a flash drive (USB stick, SSD, .. ) ?