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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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Do you encrypt your drives and why or why not? (lemmy.ml)

submitted 1 day ago by monovergent@lemmy.ml to c/linux@lemmy.ml

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I was recently intrigued to learn that only half of the respondents to a survey said that they used disk encryption. Android, iOS, macOS, and Windows have been increasingly using encryption by default. On the other hand, while most Linux installers I've encountered include the option to encrypt, it is not selected by default.

Whether it's a test bench, beater laptop, NAS, or daily driver, I encrypt for peace of mind. Whatever I end up doing on my machines, I can be pretty confident my data won't end up in the wrong hands if the drive is stolen or lost and can be erased by simply overwriting the LUKS header. Recovering from an unbootable state or copying files out from an encrypted boot drive only takes a couple more commands compared to an unencrypted setup.

But that's just me and I'm curious to hear what other reasons to encrypt or not to encrypt are out there.

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[–] Flax_vert 2 points 22 hours ago (6 children)

I don't even know how to do it

[–] kylian0087@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 21 hours ago (5 children)

Tick a box when installing some distros. Like OoenSUSE.

[–] Flax_vert 1 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

Never got it when installing Ubuntu. Any way of enabling it after install?

[–] kylian0087@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

I dont believe it is possible to do after install

[–] netvor@lemmy.world 1 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

...well, technically, yes.

If you are well-versed in the guts of the distro (grub, /etc/fstab, /etc/crypttab...), and have extra space, you could spend part of your weekend shifting partitions around and moving everything to the encrypted side, and eventually re-configuring your install and removing the old part. (Oh and don't forget to chown your /home data if you have multiple users.) I've been there, it's not fun. It's fun[tm]. It's just far easier and less error prone to re-install if you can.

(Yeah, I'm stretching the definition of "enabling it" reeealy thin here... 🙃 )

[–] kylian0087@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

I mean yes... but realistically no. Also the risk of data loss at that point is high. you will miss things. the best approach would be to make a proper backup reinstall and put the data back.

[–] netvor@lemmy.world 1 points 9 hours ago

the risk of data loss at that point is high. you will miss things

that's what makes it exciting 😓 😓 😓

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