ghacks.net— Tutorial that explains how to encrypt your hard drives with true crpyt (freeware) to prevent someone else accessing your files / personal data without your permission.
Dec 11, 2005View in Crawl 4
3Den and reverb - thanks for the info. I knew about File Vault, but I did not want to encrypt my entire home directory (if it was ever to become corrupt, that would be really bad), but I did not know that Disk Utility could create encrypted disk images. Thanks for the info again!
I am looking to encrypt a thumb-drive, but have it be read (after entering the password) on Macintosh/Windows/Linux...Would this software work on anything besides Windows?
The best thing about True Crypt, it doesn't have to be installed. It has a 'traveler' mode, and you can run the executable directly, without installing it on a system. That means you can have a thumb drive or external hard drive, and have an encrypted volume on it, and have a folder with true crypt in it, and be able to use it on any windows box you can plug the drive into, without installing any software on that box. I use it on a cf card that has all my personal data on it, credit card numbers, on line user names and passwords, company logins, etc. I have a built in cf reader in my laptop, so its convenient. When I travel, I also carry a small cf to usb reader, just in case the laptop fails and I have to use a borrowed PC. The reason I keep it on a CF card, I keep the card in my camera, and the encrypted file and true crypt folder only takes a few megs on a 512 meg card, and doesn't interfere with the camera's function of writing photo's to other directories, so its the perfect place to hide it. True crypt also gives you 'plausible deniabiltiy'. The encrypted volume is just another file on the hard drive, but with no information in the file that gives away the fact it is encrypted. It just looks like jumbled garbage in a hex editor. Other encryption software writes the program name and version number in the first few bytes of the file, blowing the possible argument that the file is not encrypted, its just damaged or garbage, in case someone is trying to force the password from you. If the file does not indicate its an encrypted volume, you can stall an attacker by playing dumb.
Too bad it's not available for the mac through fink yet.P.S. I don't care if BSD underneath has it's own implementation, I was hoping for a cross platform solution.
Be really careful, I just lost a ton of important data in a Truecrypt volume. If something gets corrupt, your entire volume is basically shot. There is absolutely no way (that I know at least) to recover files. Once a sector goes bad, all the following sectors go bad because they do some chaining thing. Make sure you back it up!!!!
jeffrey903Dec 11, 2005
3Den and reverb - thanks for the info. I knew about File Vault, but I did not want to encrypt my entire home directory (if it was ever to become corrupt, that would be really bad), but I did not know that Disk Utility could create encrypted disk images. Thanks for the info again!
teridonDec 11, 2005
This article fails to mention that while your encrypted disks are mounted, any users with administrative privileges can access them. :(
mezzDec 11, 2005
I am looking to encrypt a thumb-drive, but have it be read (after entering the password) on Macintosh/Windows/Linux...Would this software work on anything besides Windows?
discolokeDec 12, 2005
What kind of secret stuff are you guys encrypting? Give me examples of usage or I shall think your just encrypting ye old porn.
djnickDec 12, 2005
didnt bother reading this, no digg, to many words, no screenshots. we live in a screenshot society damnit!
dwatchDec 12, 2005
The best thing about True Crypt, it doesn't have to be installed. It has a 'traveler' mode, and you can run the executable directly, without installing it on a system. That means you can have a thumb drive or external hard drive, and have an encrypted volume on it, and have a folder with true crypt in it, and be able to use it on any windows box you can plug the drive into, without installing any software on that box. I use it on a cf card that has all my personal data on it, credit card numbers, on line user names and passwords, company logins, etc. I have a built in cf reader in my laptop, so its convenient. When I travel, I also carry a small cf to usb reader, just in case the laptop fails and I have to use a borrowed PC. The reason I keep it on a CF card, I keep the card in my camera, and the encrypted file and true crypt folder only takes a few megs on a 512 meg card, and doesn't interfere with the camera's function of writing photo's to other directories, so its the perfect place to hide it. True crypt also gives you 'plausible deniabiltiy'. The encrypted volume is just another file on the hard drive, but with no information in the file that gives away the fact it is encrypted. It just looks like jumbled garbage in a hex editor. Other encryption software writes the program name and version number in the first few bytes of the file, blowing the possible argument that the file is not encrypted, its just damaged or garbage, in case someone is trying to force the password from you. If the file does not indicate its an encrypted volume, you can stall an attacker by playing dumb.
crazenJan 3, 2006
Too bad it's not available for the mac through fink yet.P.S. I don't care if BSD underneath has it's own implementation, I was hoping for a cross platform solution.
pt1000Feb 18, 2006
Be really careful, I just lost a ton of important data in a Truecrypt volume. If something gets corrupt, your entire volume is basically shot. There is absolutely no way (that I know at least) to recover files. Once a sector goes bad, all the following sectors go bad because they do some chaining thing. Make sure you back it up!!!!
biofuelJun 19, 2006
and of course encrypt or alternatively secure the backups!
jakv5Aug 15, 2006
I need something that can be used on a pc that I do not have administrative privileges for. Any suggestions??
norzMar 11, 2007
A Mac OS version is planned it seems, but no date is given.
byrdgangSep 3, 2007
I'd love to know how, because I don't think that's possible. As long as you the intruder does not have the password, he/she can't get to the volume.
byrdgangSep 3, 2007
GnuPGP is free, though.
byrdgangSep 3, 2007
Truecrypt is not released under GPL. It has its own open source license.