# Does a portable hard drive encryption system exist?



## fonz (Aug 30, 2009)

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


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## graudeejs (Aug 30, 2009)

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....


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## fonz (Aug 30, 2009)

killasmurf86 said:
			
		

> 1) fat (aka msdosfs aka dosfs)



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



			
				killasmurf86 said:
			
		

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



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

Alphons


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## vivek (Aug 30, 2009)

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


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## graudeejs (Aug 30, 2009)

fonz said:
			
		

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



I don't think so...


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## Carpetsmoker (Aug 30, 2009)

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


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## aragon (Aug 30, 2009)

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.


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## fonz (Aug 30, 2009)

aragon said:
			
		

> 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 :e 



			
				aragon said:
			
		

> 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...


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## Carpetsmoker (Aug 31, 2009)

> 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.


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## fonz (Aug 31, 2009)

Carpetsmoker said:
			
		

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



You know what they say: _a feature is a bug with seniority_ :h

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.


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## alphazo (Sep 30, 2009)

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!


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## DutchDaemon (Sep 30, 2009)

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


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## elfsechsundzwanzig (Dec 27, 2011)

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?


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