[Solved] Does a portable hard drive encryption system exist?

**fonz** · #1 August 30th, 2009, 15:58

Howdy all,

I have an external USB drive that needs to exchange data between Linux and FreeBSD systems - and if possible Windoze (XP/Vista/7) as well.

Q1: Which filesystem do you recommend I put on it? (or more to the point: am I really stuck with NTFS?)

Q2: Is there an encryption scheme that works with all 3 platforms?

I was initially considering TrueCrypt, until I found out that it's very unstable on FreeBSD and the TC people don't seem to care about that. At all.

Suggestions are welcome,

Alphons

graudeejs · #2 August 30th, 2009, 16:03

1) fat (aka msdosfs aka dosfs)
2) No, you can use gnupg to encrypt/decrypt files (just finished how to)
2.b) you can use openssl, but I don't know, what do you need to do to get it run on windows....

**fonz** · #3 August 30th, 2009, 16:29

Quote:

Originally Posted by killasmurf86

1) fat (aka msdosfs aka dosfs)

Been thinking about that. But is using FAT wise (or even possible) with a 1 1TB drive?

Quote:

Originally Posted by killasmurf86

2) No, you can use gnupg to encrypt/decrypt files (just finished how to)

Sounds promising, I'll go check it out. Thanks.

Alphons

vivek · #4 August 30th, 2009, 16:32

http://www.gnupg.org/ try it. There is also portable version and it works under Ms-windows.

graudeejs · #5 August 30th, 2009, 16:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by fonz

Been thinking about that. But is using FAT wise (or even possible) with a 1 1TB drive?

I don't think so...

Carpetsmoker · #6 August 30th, 2009, 16:48

FAT32 is the *only* reliable filesystem with read/write access on all three platforms.
A 1TB volume is no problem.

aragon · #7 August 30th, 2009, 18:03

Yup, FAT32 will work for file systems many terabytes in size, but it has one major pitfall - single files can't be larger than 4 GB. It's your only option for true portability though.

**fonz** · #8 August 30th, 2009, 23:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by aragon

Yup, FAT32 will work for file systems many terabytes in size

So far I've found out that Windoze (Vista Home Premium) won't let me create and format a FAT/FAT32/exFAT partition if the size is in/near the TB range, but I suppose non-M$ tools like your average UN*X fdisk/newfs_msdos will be less picky

Quote:

Originally Posted by aragon

but it has one major pitfall - single files can't be larger than 4 GB.

That's good to know - probably means one needs to watch out in case of DVD images and other such large files. However, from what I've seen so far with an ~8 GB USB stick, both FreeBSD and Linux appear to only give a warning and not actually have a problem with files >=4GB though. Edit: I should probably test that a little more...

Carpetsmoker · #9 August 31st, 2009, 02:20

Quote:

So far I've found out that Windoze (Vista Home Premium) won't let me create and format a FAT/FAT32/exFAT partition if the size is in/near the TB range, but I suppose non-M$ tools like your average UN*X fdisk/newfs_msdos will be less picky

Yes, this is a well-known ``feature'' of Windows because they want people to use NTFS or exFAT.
You can either create a FAT32 FS with FreeBSD etc. or create one in Windows and enlarge it with PartitionMagic etc.

**fonz** · #10 August 31st, 2009, 15:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by Carpetsmoker

Yes, this is a well-known ``feature'' of Windows

You know what they say: a feature is a bug with seniority

Alphons

P.S. Early tests lead me to think that >=4GB files on a FAT32 are truncated, so this limit is definately something to keep in mind.

alphazo · #11 September 30th, 2009, 09:35

I started using TrueCrypt on Windows then between Linux & MacOS. I barely use Windows anymore so I'm now considering encFS that is available under Linux, MacOS...and FreeBSD!
Very easy to setup and many advantages over TrueCrypt, although they don't answer to the same problem. encFS relies on the underlayer filesystem. It 'only' encrypts the filename and file content. You don't have a big container so you can grow encrypted data as required. That allows you to perform backup of only modified file (good for rsync) and also mount a remote encrypted filesystem (e.g. sshfs). Online service like DropBox can be used to store private data. As as side note there are some information of a 'buggy' Windows version of encFS the link appears to be dead.
Now regarding the filesystem there is no magic one besides FAT. When sharing data between Linux, MacOS and Windows I found NTFS the most reliable solution (but I must admit that I'm not proud of it) because there is NTFS-3G on both Linux and MacOS and even a commercial implementation on MacOS as well. Now I don't know the status of ntfs-3G under FreeBSD.

Alphazo - I promise I won't PGP sign my posts on FreeBSD Forum anymore!

**DutchDaemon** · #12 September 30th, 2009, 11:27

sysutils/fusefs-ntfs appears to have a proven track record by now. It figures in several threads on this forum.

elfsechsundzwanzig · #13 December 27th, 2011, 12:50

I know this post is two years old, and I do have the same problem now. So I thought I ask for an update: Is there a possiblity to encrypt an external USB HDD that should be usable on FreeBSD and Windows? I read about FreeOTFE, but there seems to be no port of it.

Does anyone use an encrypted USB HDD? If so, how has he/she encrypted it? Is it possible to use it on a windows-computer as well?

Thread Tools
Show Printable Version Email this Page
Display Modes
Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
zfs , adding a usb hard drive to a zpool	wonslung	General	4	December 2nd, 2009 04:03
Cloning linux system to new hard drive	kasse	Off-Topic	6	August 31st, 2009 14:47
Partitioning an external hard drive WD MyBook	Ico	Peripheral Hardware	8	June 10th, 2009 15:14
SCSI Hard drive recovering from bad sectors	roddierod	System Hardware	0	February 10th, 2009 19:08
Seagate Baracuda 7200.8 300GB Hard Drive	Fozzy	System Hardware	3	December 31st, 2008 04:11

The Following User Says Thank You to graudeejs For This Useful Post:
fonz (August 30th, 2009)

The Following User Says Thank You to vivek For This Useful Post:
fonz (August 30th, 2009)

The Following User Says Thank You to Carpetsmoker For This Useful Post:
fonz (August 30th, 2009)