gpg
 

I am new to encryption, could someone please give me an example and some good words of advice about how this whole gpg thing works, I am just simply trying to encrypt files on my hard drive.

then gpg's not for you.

Maybe try something like 'ccrypt' - there are many others which only differ by the algorithm and keys they use. There are also lots of thinhs like hiding files within other files - possibly the jpeg encryption stuff, but I'm thinking about hiding text inside of unallocated memory of other code. But that's unnecessary for most things, just try something like ccrypt.
; )

btw, gpg is used when sharing something with someone else. It's not useful for encrypting stuff on your own HD.