encrypted external hd

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Moliere
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encrypted external hd

Post by Moliere »

Any recommendations for an external hard drive that I can use for data back-up?
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Anonymous Bosch
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Re: encrypted external hd

Post by Anonymous Bosch »

I purchased a 4TB Seagate Backup Plus Portable Drive a few months ago, after reading the favourable review it received from PC Mag. It fit all of my needs, being one of the largest-capacity portable drives available at the time, along with an affordable pricetag.

Assuming you're after full disk encryption, choices for encrypting Windows hard drives remain frustratingly slim. So I'd suggest following Bruce Schneier's advice, and going with Jetico BestCrypt, even though it's proprietary, and does not use open source cryptography (the importance of which Schneier typically strongly emphasizes). But as Schneier himself concludes, it's simply the least bad option at the moment, and has been around for over twenty years.
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Moliere
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Re: encrypted external hd

Post by Moliere »

Tools for encryption? Anyone use VeraCrypt?
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Anonymous Bosch
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Re: encrypted external hd

Post by Anonymous Bosch »

Moliere wrote:Tools for encryption? Anyone use VeraCrypt?
I recall reading that the open source options for full disk encryption in Windows didn't work all that well with modern PC hardware. It was touched upon here:
The Intercept wrote: Part of the problem is that TrueCrypt is locked out by the very boot-up system that helps make BitLocker so secure. When you power on a Windows 8 computer, it runs a chunk of code that interfaces the computer’s hardware and its operating system. This code runs a security check to make sure none of the start-up software has been tampered with by a hacker; Microsoft code passes the check, since it’s been cryptographically marked as “trusted,” but software that isn’t marked this way, like TrueCrypt, fails the check and prevents the computer from starting. In most PCs it’s possible to turn off the security check, but this involves tinkering with hard-to-reach security settings; the instructions for configuring your boot-up code are different on pretty much every computer.

If this weren’t bad enough, TrueCrypt and its derivates only support encrypting disks that use outdated partition tables. A partition table describes the different sections a hard disk has been split into. Older systems used Master Boot Record (MBR) partition tables, but newer computers come formatted with GUID Partition Table (GPT) — a system TrueCrypt does not work with.

There’s little prospect these problems will go away anytime soon. In May 2014, at the same time that Microsoft officially stopped supporting Windows XP, TrueCrypt’s developers publicly abandoned the project and TrueCrypt’s website was replaced with instructions for migrating to BitLocker.

The shutdown erodes more than just TrueCrypt’s compatibility with Windows; security is at stake, too. If someone finds a security bug in TrueCrypt in the future, this bug will never get fixed.

Two new projects have forked off of the TrueCrypt codebase — VeraCrypt and CipherShed. Both are under active development. But both still suffer from all the same Windows full-disk encryption issues that TrueCrypt suffers from (though for cross-platform encrypted USB sticks and file containers, they still work great).

Even if these projects eventually fix these issues and gain support for modern PCs, their development is hampered by TrueCrypt’s licensing terms, which don’t qualify as either “open source” or “free software” under standards laid down within those programming communities. Since VeraCrypt and CipherShed are forks of TrueCrypt, they’re forever locked into this unfortunate license. Because TrueCrypt and its offshoots don’t meet standard definitions of free and open source software, none of the popular distributions of the Linux operating system include them in their software packaging repositories, an omission that makes installation and updating a pain for Linux users. TrueCrypt’s non-standard license and lack of Linux packaging makes free and open source advocates hesitant to throw their weight behind it, which may slow down development of bug fixes and features for all operating systems, including Windows.
YMMV, but that's why I followed Schnier's advice and went with BestCrypt instead.
"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." — P. J. O'Rourke
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Tao
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Re: encrypted external hd

Post by Tao »

These are a bit pricey and may be overkill but they work really well. Only external USB we allow at work (FIPS 140-2 requirement).

http://www.amazon.com/Apricorn-Hardware ... corn+drive

http://www.amazon.com/Apricorn-Hardware ... corn+drive
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Re: encrypted external hd

Post by Isgrimnur »

I'm going the route of an external backup that's just not plugged in until it's being used. Disconnected works as well as encrypted for my needs.
It's almost as if people are the problem.
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Alefroth
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Re: encrypted external hd

Post by Alefroth »

Isgrimnur wrote:I'm going the route of an external backup that's just not plugged in until it's being used. Disconnected works as well as encrypted for my needs.
That works well as long you're in possession of the drive. I assumed Moliere was concerned about losing the drive, but maybe I shouldn't have.
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Re: encrypted external hd

Post by Isgrimnur »

Oh, I have no doubt that he has his reasons, and am offering no commentary on them.
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Moliere
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Re: encrypted external hd

Post by Moliere »

Isgrimnur wrote:Oh, I have no doubt that he has his reasons, and am offering no commentary on them.
:ninja:
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Moliere
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Re: encrypted external hd

Post by Moliere »

Alefroth wrote:
Isgrimnur wrote:I'm going the route of an external backup that's just not plugged in until it's being used. Disconnected works as well as encrypted for my needs.
That works well as long you're in possession of the drive. I assumed Moliere was concerned about losing the drive, but maybe I shouldn't have.
And that's what I am trying to understand. I installed VeraCrypt on the external HD. I don't really understand how the encryption is being utilized. I created the Volume and then Mounted it. It seems to be saying that every time I copy something to that drive it will be encrypted. When I plug the drive into the computer everything is visible on the drive. The VeraCrypt program isn't even running in the background. When does the encryption require my password?
"The world is suffering more today from the good people who want to mind other men's business than it is from the bad people who are willing to let everybody look after their own individual affairs." - Clarence Darrow
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