Encrypting an external harddrive

Hal Emmerich

What's the best way to do this? I see Truecrypt mentioned alot. Any downsides to it?

If I put it on an external using windows can it be accessed then with Linux?

biko

I use Truecrypt and haven't found any issues with it.
About the second question, don't know. You can try with a USB key first.

cookie1977

I have all my external hard drives completely encrypted with Truecrypt and no downside from what I can see. Never had problems either. There is a linux version of truecrypt. I haven't used it but it should play fine with your encrypted hard drives:

http://www.truecrypt.org/downloads

rcdk1

I use True Crypt on my flash drive, great bit of software. A couple of things I would point out:

1. You need admin privileges to run Truecrypt (or at least get an admin to install True Crypt)
2. The setup is a bit convoluted so I'd advise following one of the tutorials.
3. The flash drive doesn't autorun in windows 7 (but it works perfectly)

As for running it on linux, the Truecrypt FAQ says:

Will I be able to mount my TrueCrypt volume (container) on any computer?

Yes, TrueCrypt volumes are independent of the operating system. You will be able to mount your TrueCrypt volume on any computer on which you can run TrueCrypt (see also the question 'Can I use TrueCrypt on Windows if I do not have administrator privileges?').

Cork Skate

Is TrueCrypt a good way of encrypting a folder called Photo but leave Films, Music, etc ... in short if i only want photos and personal stuff encrypted so that if i give my drive away to someone to copy music films etc. they cant snoop around looking at everything else.

rcdk1

Cork Skate wrote: »

Is TrueCrypt a good way of encrypting a folder called Photo but leave Films, Music, etc ... in short if i only want photos and personal stuff encrypted so that if i give my drive away to someone to copy music films etc. they cant snoop around looking at everything else.

With TrueCrypt you can create three types partitions, open/unencrypted, encrypted but visible and encrypted but hidden.

You can store your most sensitive data in the hidden partition which only opens if you enter the correct password and is otherwise invisible.

The only issue is that you have to set the partition sizes when you first set up TrueCrypt.

Hal Emmerich

Thanks guys.

Cork Skate

rcdk1 wrote: »

With TrueCrypt you can create three types partitions, open/unencrypted, encrypted but visible and encrypted but hidden.

You can store your most sensitive data in the hidden partition which only opens if you enter the correct password and is otherwise invisible.

The only issue is that you have to set the partition sizes when you first set up TrueCrypt.

That's great, just downloaded it there now.

Longford Leader

By using Truecrypt does it interfere with any data that is already being backed up to a offline backup service (SugarSync,Safecopy,etc)

rcdk1

Longford Leader wrote: »

By using Truecrypt does it interfere with any data that is already being backed up to a offline backup service (SugarSync,Safecopy,etc)

To be honest, I don't use online (I presume you meant online) backup services so I can't answer your question but a quick google would seem to indicate some do and some don't.

According to this thread, Sugarsync doesn't at the moment.

Dropbox and SyncbackPro are two backups which were mentioned as working with Truecrypt but you would need to check that for yourself.