password protected partition?

ex1st- · n00b Joined: 10 Apr 2004 Posts: 2

I have a ext3 partition and I would like to 'hide' files that are on that partition.
How can I do that ?
I realy need this , so please explain it eaven if it's kinda long or whatever. Or maybe a link ? It's just I'm not sure what to search for in google.

Kompi · Posted: Sat Apr 10, 2004 3:08 pm Post subject:

I think you encrypted loop-devices is what you need.

Refer to the Encryption Howto: http://www.linuxsecurity.com/docs/HOWTO/Encryption-HOWTO/Encryption-HOWTO.html

or try to search the gentoo forum for a bounch of threads in this forums. Search for "loop-aes", "cryptoloop" or "cryptoAPI".

ex1st- · n00b Joined: 10 Apr 2004 Posts: 2

I read that already.
As far as i understand it says only how to make a new partition and then copy/write/whatever files on it ...
What if I have a HUGE amount of data already ?!?

Kompi · Posted: Sat Apr 10, 2004 3:48 pm Post subject:

that's quite problematic, because the data will be written copressed to your Partition / File. So you can't just "convert" your partition in a compressed partition. It is neccessary to let all the data go threw the compression algorithm. (copy things onto the partition)
So if you don't have enough space, you could do the following (which is a bit of work if you really have very few space left):

create a file on your Partition (dd), which will hold the compressed filesystem. Make it as big as possible.

Link it to a cryptoloop-device (losetup), create a filesystem mount it and move as much data as fits into the filesystem.

Now you will have free space on your partition which has nearly the same size as your copressed. Grow your filesystem (the encryption howto explains how to do so) and move the next data block into your filesystem. Repeat this until everything is in your compressed filesystem.

Warning: Be careful, you will not have any backup of your data. If something goes wrong, you can lose your data.

Carlo · Developer Joined: 12 Aug 2002 Posts: 3356

Cryptoloop is deprecated. The future is dm-crypt (part of linux >= 2.6.3 ).

Carlo
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pjp · Administrator Joined: 16 Apr 2002 Posts: 20583

Moved from Documentation, Tips & Tricks.
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