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Discussion => Security => Topic started by: dreamxweaver on October 24, 2012, 06:15 pm

Title: TrueCrypt - external drive protection
Post by: dreamxweaver on October 24, 2012, 06:15 pm
Ok, so I have a whole drive that I want to encrypt (1.5tb). I know this will take forever and I want to know what happens is the power goes out?

And also: it can only be used on a machine with truecrypt on it, right? Otherwise it will say it needs to be formatted. The latter is not so nice, since the person who finds it might think it's broken and just needs a format while then erasing all my files.

Is this a safe way for protecting a drive? It doesn't need to be ultimately encrypted since no hacker will get to it. Just a bit on encryption would be nice. And something to prevent the : do you want the disk to be formatted would be even nicer.

Or is this just not possible and might splitting the drive up in 2+ partitions be better and then encrypting just one?
Would future versions of truecrypt still be able to decrypt it ( my guess would be yes). And where do the keyfiles get saved? I don't see them on the disk, not as invisible either. It's stored somewhere in the disk, but where?

Title: Re: TrueCrypt - external drive protection
Post by: CoolGrey on October 24, 2012, 11:54 pm
Ok, so I have a whole drive that I want to encrypt (1.5tb). I know this will take forever and I want to know what happens is the power goes out?
Yes it's probably going to take multiply hours, maybe an entire day. If the power goes out, I'm pretty sure you have to start all over again.

And also: it can only be used on a machine with truecrypt on it, right? Otherwise it will say it needs to be formatted. The latter is not so nice, since the person who finds it might think it's broken and just needs a format while then erasing all my files.
If the machine detects an encrypted drive, it does not know what to do with it, and it will ask you to format it. You can access it only if you run truecrypt and mount the volume. It is not necessary to install TC, you can run it on the fly (ie: without installing).

Is this a safe way for protecting a drive? It doesn't need to be ultimately encrypted since no hacker will get to it. Just a bit on encryption would be nice. And something to prevent the : do you want the disk to be formatted would be even nicer.
Yes, TrueCrypt is one of the best encryption software out there. As long as the passphrase is secret and the volume in not mounted, nobody will be able to access it.
Or is this just not possible and might splitting the drive up in 2+ partitions be better and then encrypting just one?
Yes that is possible. 1.5 TB is a LOT of memory. I don't know what you plan on encrypting, but I wouldn't know what to put in it.

Another possibility is to make a regular TrueCrypt container. Then you don't have to encrypt the entire drive, and you can just select the desired size. Added advantage: the computer will not ask you to format it upon detection, but it will just see the drive with one unrecognizable file on it (the encrypted volume). Then you will also be able to continue using the rest of the drive.

Would future versions of truecrypt still be able to decrypt it ( my guess would be yes). And where do the keyfiles get saved? I don't see them on the disk, not as invisible either. It's stored somewhere in the disk, but where?
Yes I'm sure future versions of TrueCrypt will have backward compatibility. As for keyfiles, I have no experience with them. Real men learn their passphrases by heart :p
Title: Re: TrueCrypt - external drive protection
Post by: Funkedup on October 25, 2012, 09:52 am
Make a huge TC container and then put trucrypt portable on the drive. When you plug the dirve in tun truecrypt portable and mount the container.
Title: Re: TrueCrypt - external drive protection
Post by: Funkedup on October 25, 2012, 12:22 pm
Unless of course its for CP, then you are a scum bag.

Encryp it with a laptop and connect it with a usb so if the power does go out, the battery on the laptop will keep going
Title: Re: TrueCrypt - external drive protection
Post by: dreamxweaver on October 25, 2012, 01:10 pm
Thanks for the answers :)

Yes it will take hours, maybe over a day. I tried it with a simple (but slow usb1) flashdrive and even that took quite some time.

So it would be best to make it a normal drive, with an encrypted partition so when found it won't be formatted.

CP meaning that sick shit porn? If so, then ofcourse not! I hate that shit and that people can see/make it without ever getting busted (hopefully karma will, but then again, what is karma? In some countries pedophilia is defined differently than in others).

No it's just to hide some private info, nothing harmful. I know there are people here that can't withstand not respecting privacy and truecrypt seems perfect for it.

As for the keyfiles: I don't really know what they are. You have to make up a password and then use the mouse and move randomly with it, which will create a keyfile. That is separate from a password.
After testing with the flash drive and putting it into another pc, my guess is that the keyfile is more hidden than a hidden file/folder, but stored on the device itself. Which makes sense, because who wants to encrypt a flash drive that cant be opened anymore after a format of the pc?

I consider my questions answered. More info on keyfiles would be appreciated but I might find it on the net as well.

Thx again :)