Using USB key as real home and possible encryption?

[Giles Orr]

On 27 April 2014 07:51, James Knott <james.knott-bJEeYj9oJeDQT0dZR+AlfA at public.gmane.org> wrote:

> Walter Dnes wrote:
> >   So now the worry is not losing the USB key.  Is there some form of
> > transparent on-the-fly encryption available that would allow me to read
> > *AND WRTE TO* the USB key?  This is in case I lose the USB key.  I'd be
> > looking at encrypting the entire "/dev/sdb1" USB key partition.
>
> When you format a partition, there's always an option to encrypt it, but
> I haven't tried that.
>


The default encryption for Linux is LUKS.  I used that not only for /home/
on my desktop, but also for my removable backup drives.  Ubuntu 12.04 with
LXDE recognizes the encrypted partitions when they're connected by USB and
asks for a password to automount them, so this should work fine for what
you're looking at.  I'm no longer using automount - mostly because I
switched to Openbox, but partly because I'm told automount is totally
pooched in the newer Ubuntu and Debian installs - I've confirmed with a
recent Jessie install.  I use pmount and have been fairly happy with it.  A
couple friends are trying out udevil.

Here are the steps I use to encrypt a partition for use (partition can be
unformatted, it will be wiped):

   # cryptsetup --verify-passphrase --key-size 256 luksFormat /dev/sdb1
   # cryptsetup luksOpen /dev/sdb1 VolumeLabel
   # mke2fs -j -L VolumeLabel -m 2 -t ext4 /dev/mapper/VolumeLabel

Not an explanation, but should give you pointers for where to look.  As
with any destructive disk operation, you're pointing a loaded gun: be
careful.

If anyone who knows this process better than me ("I am not an expert,"
etc.) wants to point out errors in my method, please do: I'd like improve
it if possible.

-- 
Giles
http://www.gilesorr.com/
gilesorr-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w at public.gmane.org
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