Using USB key as real home and possible encryption?

[Walter Dnes]

On Sun, Apr 27, 2014 at 10:58:41AM -0400, Giles Orr wrote

> 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.

  Now that I know what keywords to search for on Google, I'm starting to
find interesting stuff.  E.g. http://sleepyhead.de/howto/?href=cryptpart
shows how to use cryptsetup with and without LUKS.

========================================================================
dm-crypt without LUKS

# cryptsetup -y create sdc1 /dev/sdc1 # or any other partition like /dev/loop0
# dmsetup ls                          # check it, will display: sdc1 (254, 0)
# mkfs.ext3 /dev/mapper/sdc1          # This is done only the first time!
# mount -t ext3 /dev/mapper/sdc1 /mnt
# umount /mnt/
# cryptsetup remove sdc1              # Detach the encrypted partition

Do exactly the same (without the mkfs part!) to re-attach the partition.
If the password is not correct, the mount command will fail. In this
case simply remove the map sdc1 (cryptsetup remove sdc1) and create it
again.
========================================================================

  I did a --pretend emerge of cryptsetup (I'm running Gentoo linux), and
I see that it pulls in lvm2 as a dependancy, presumably to enable the
/dev/mapper/* entries.  Any comments on whether I'm better off with or
without LUKS?

-- 
Walter Dnes <waltdnes-SLHPyeZ9y/tg9hUCZPvPmw at public.gmane.org>
I don't run "desktop environments"; I run useful applications
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