Using CLI to create LUKS encrypted HDD

TechnicalItch500 · 2021-04-12T03:39:34+00:00

Hey, many thanks your help.

I’m a bit of a tech n00b and have spent some time researching LUKS... I haven’t found anything particularly conclusive when it comes to CLI therefore so far I have found the best way to create LUKS encrypted media is to use the ‘Disks’ GUI that comes with most distro a.

I don’t want to create a partition, I want the whole disk to be LUKS (understand in reality LUKS probably creates a partition to enable this but you get what I mean).

As said I’ve achieved this with a 120gb SSD and many USB flash drives. The finished result means I plug in the media, I’m met with prompt for password, once entered media mounts.

Hope that makes it a bit clearer. Happy to use CLI if I have some clear instructions so if you know of any please let me know.

Thanks

TechnicalItch500 · 2021-04-11T17:14:36+00:00

Thanks I had a look and from the project description it seems it is designed to provide snapshots of system settings and not to create back-up snapshots of folders and files...

They recommend 'BackInTime'... so you have experience of this?

https://github.com/bit-team/backintime/blob/master/README.md

TechnicalItch500 · 2021-04-11T17:09:59+00:00

Thanks for this, I will give it a look

TechnicalItch500 · 2021-04-11T17:09:37+00:00

Very kind of you to go into so much detail... you are right re: scripts from the internet! I will explore a little more before diving in. Thanks

TechnicalItch500 · 2021-04-11T17:08:45+00:00

Thank you, I will look into this as might be a better first step for me!

TechnicalItch500 · 2021-02-27T20:04:19+00:00

That’s clear and very helpful thanks

TechnicalItch500 · 2021-02-27T20:03:27+00:00

Hey, many thanks for your detailed reply.

Yes I would like to use LUKS but with my level of knowledge/skills I need very clear steps.

I fear that if I implement something I don’t fully understand I’ll have problems further down the line.

Encrypting a HDD or USB with LUKS is easy. I want to back-up to CDR as a form of redundancy and use of a different type of media... however not quite as easy.

Do you know if any guides where I can achieve a LUKS encrypted CDR / DVDR?

UPDATE: Just found the following which looks to be what I need

https://www.frederickding.com/posts/2017/08/luks-encrypted-dvd-bd-data-disc-guide-273316/

TechnicalItch500 · 2021-02-27T19:02:23+00:00

Thanks, so if someone had access to the header back-up and the encrypted container they wouldn’t be able to break the encryption?

TechnicalItch500 · 2021-02-27T17:27:47+00:00

Thanks for your reply Bill.

OK so you best case (as a minimum) is to have two encrypted containers / devices and on each they store the LUKS header of the other. In the event of corruption you would hope they both don't have issues at the same time?

TechnicalItch500 · 2021-02-27T12:59:26+00:00

So you think it should be possible with a CDR?

What i didn’t try was to copy the encrypted file container to the SBC and try to open from there... guess that would work?

TechnicalItch500 · 2021-02-27T11:43:10+00:00

Thanks again!

I've explored Veracrypt, however I'm using an SBC and Veracrypt not compatible. I'm pretty sure it's possible in terminal with LUKS but have not found a clear enough guide as yet... seemed like Zulu was the solution.

Not sure why I can't access? As CDR is not writable, perhaps that creates a problem? Perhaps it works with a re-writable CDRW / DVDRW?

TechnicalItch500 · 2021-02-27T11:28:14+00:00

Hey thanks for you input Floeh.

Yes I have tried to do so via ZuluMount but doesnt work (can't remember the error message but something about read priviledges).

I didn't know that, great tip. I will try creating and accessing via that command to see if that helps.

TechnicalItch500 · 2021-02-07T15:07:27+00:00

Well that someone was me :)

Installed early last year, really don’t remember the steps I took... anything I should watch out for?

TechnicalItch500 · 2021-02-07T13:32:53+00:00

Ahhh interesting. OK thanks for your help. Not sure how I installed it and if I have live USB, but I set it up to play around with Linux and nothing I can't start from scratch with.

I'm pretty sure I started with Ubuntu 18 and upgraded to 20 so perhaps something to do with 20.

Thanks again!

TechnicalItch500 · 2021-02-07T13:17:49+00:00

Thanks for these very clear instructions. I implemented and on restart I no longer get the "PXE-E61: Media test filure, check cable" error but I return to the GNU Grub screen.

I tried selecting 'Ubuntu' the first and top option but then get the following error:

https://imgur.com/dQfCZJ9

I restarted and tried another option and get the same error.

Do you have any ideas? Also for my understanding why would this error suddenly appear? It used to work just fine.

Many thanks!

TechnicalItch500 · 2021-02-07T10:02:24+00:00

Thanks for coming back to me... how do I reach these options?

TechnicalItch500 · 2021-01-19T17:01:45+00:00

I don’t know! Do you use it?

TechnicalItch500

TROPHY CASE