How to you encrypt your external hard drives?

Question

Which programs do you use to you encrypt your external SSD/HDD?Would TrueCrypt [0] be still fine for that task? (Its security audit did not reveal anything serious [1].) Is there a reason to use VeraCrypt (and trust some additional people)?Is there anything more reliable than those two? I am especially interested in GNU/Linux.[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TrueCrypt[1] Except privilege escalations, not relevant for QubesOS users.

yamrzou · Accepted Answer

I once used TrueCrypt for an external HDD and I regretted it. After some years the disk failed, and I had no chance to recover its content as touching a few bits meant the inability to decrypt it or recover a part of it. It had some of my most valuable memories and unfortunately, I had no backup.Now, I prefer a solution which preserves the directory structure like EncFS and I make sure to backup.

Iolaum · Answer

I just format them with Gnome Disks (that uses LUKS in the background and supports many filesystems) and use a strong (LUKS) passphrase that goes in the password manager.Has been pretty reliable and widely available.

theandrewbailey · Answer

I've used LUKS on my external drives for over 6 years without issues. I use them with BTRFS for good measure.

runjake · Answer

LUKS, FileVault, encrypted DMG, or Veracrypt, depending on the platform(s).