To install Ubuntu Linux is very easy for anyone, easier than to install Windows because you haven’t fight with the driver: it usually recognize all hardware you have.
In this post I want describe how to install Ubuntu encrypted.
Why I have to install Ubuntu encrypted? Is it necessary?
It isn’t necessary to install Ubuntu encrypted but it improves a lot the safety of your data because at the end of installation all your hard disk will be encrypted.
What are advantages and disadvantages?
Advantages: the advantage is mainly one but it’s very important: the safety. An encrypted hard disk with a strong key is inaccessible. Many people thin the login password is enough to protect their data … hey wake up, the login password is useless!!! To access data in an unencrypted computer is sufficient to start it with a USB stick with any Linux live distribution.
Disadvantages:
- recover data is more difficult: in case of failure of the pc it’s quite difficult recover data and if you forget the password used to encrypt it, it’s impossibile recover data from it
- performance: this disadvantage is only for old computers with single core. The latest computers, with two or more core, haven’t performance problems with encryption
So what I have to do? It depends.
If you usually go to office or to school with your notebook, my personal advice is encrypt it. If you lost your notebook or if someone steal it, nobody can have to access your data. They can only format your PC and reuse it.
If you use your PC only in your house, maybe it’s not necessary to encrypt it. A good alternative is encrypt only some folders where you store the more sensible data.
In any case, if you decide to install Ubuntu encrypted you can do it with the following istruction.
During the installation, when it asks the Installation Type you have to tick the following options like in the image below:
- Encrtypt the new Ubuntu installation for security
- Use LVM with the new Ubuntu installation
then it asks to choose a security key
it’s very important to choose a very strong key, 123456 or password are not a good idea 😉
then continue with the installation until the end.
When you have finished and you restart the computer, before the login, asks the passphrase (security key) necessary to decrypt the hard disk content
It’s Easy, isn’t it? Now you can sleep a peaceful night 🙂
