I've been a Windows power user/administrator and professional tech for years, I just made the decision to go Linux, and wow, what a difference.
Is there any decently easy way to encrypt external volumes (i.e. USB keys, external hard drives, memory sticks, etc.) that works under Ubuntu 14.04?
2 Answers
Linux platform only
You can use the disk utility that comes installed with Ubuntu by default.
Install the cryptsetup package: sudo apt-get install cryptsetup
If the gnome-disk-utility package is not installed: sudo apt-get install gnome-disk-utility
Some things to have in mind prior:
- Any data that is on the partition will get erased
- This is NOT suitable for a partition that is running your current OS
- Again, back up everything and be sure to format the correct drive!
Creating a new encrypted partition:
Start the Disk Utility:
- Make sure you identify the proper drive in the left hand panel.
- If needed, create empty space on the disk by resizing/deleting partitions.
- In the
Volumesgraphic overview, click the appropriate empty block. - Click Create partition to create the partition to be encrypted.
- Check Encrypt underlying device.
They will then prompt you for a password. Chose a decent password - your encryption will only be as strong as your password. It is probably also safer not to store the password, choose the option Forget password immediately.
