rsync -ar / to external drive then encrypt disks and rysnc -ar back?

fixles · 2013-02-09 23:58:05

Hi,

I want to encrypt the my hard disk on my laptop but I'm really happy with the way my Arch is setup. If I broadly:

1. rsync -ar my / and /home partitions to an external drive
2. Boot the arch.iso set up the file encrypted file systems (non encrypted for /boot partition)
3. rsync -ar back to / and /home from external drive
4. chroot into / and run grub-install grub-mkconfig -o

Is this likely to work / Will my system boot after?

Does any foresee any major issues with this?

Also I was planning on using dm-crypt with LUKS for the encryption is this the way to go or something else?

Thanks.

cfr · 2013-02-10 00:08:38

fixles wrote:

Hi,
I want to encrypt the my hard disk on my laptop but I'm really happy with the way my Arch is setup. If I broadly:
1. rsync -ar my / and /home partitions to an external drive

Use -aAXv.

2. Boot the arch.iso set up the file encrypted file systems (non encrypted for /boot partition)
3. rsync -ar back to / and /home from external drive

Use -aAXv.

4. chroot into / and run grub-install grub-mkconfig -o
Is this likely to work / Will my system boot after?
Does any foresee any major issues with this?

Well you need to do all the other stuff such as regenerating initramfs and adding config options for grub. But basically, yes, it should work.

Also I was planning on using dm-crypt with LUKS for the encryption is this the way to go or something else?
Thanks.

Depends on your preferences. Not quite what I chose but I'm me and you're you. Read the wiki which sets out the options and explains how to implement them. If you haven't done the reading, the chances that your system won't boot after and that it won't work the way you want when you do get it booting are obviously going to be fairly high.

fixles · 2013-02-10 00:40:03

cfr wrote:

Well you need to do all the other stuff such as regenerating initramfs and adding config options for grub. But basically, yes, it should work.

Thanks for the reply. Ah yes genfstab, initramfs and configure grub... anything else i missed? Configuring users, network, language etc should all be fine shouldnt it? Or should I do everything apart from pacstrap?

cfr · 2013-02-10 04:01:58

That stuff should be fine, yes. At least, I didn't redo that stuff.

fixles · 2013-02-10 04:05:41

cfr wrote:

That stuff should be fine, yes. At least, I didn't redo that stuff.

Thanks. Gonna try it out in a vm first. the dm-crypt lurks & lvm look to be about twice the size of the beginners guide ... lol Gonna be a fun sunday.

Strike0 · 2013-02-10 11:49:43

Here is one fresher write-up. If you use it in your vm test with the recent install-cd, give some feedback about it here. Thanks.

Arch Linux

#1 2013-02-09 23:58:05

rsync -ar / to external drive then encrypt disks and rysnc -ar back?

#2 2013-02-10 00:08:38

Re: rsync -ar / to external drive then encrypt disks and rysnc -ar back?

#3 2013-02-10 00:40:03

Re: rsync -ar / to external drive then encrypt disks and rysnc -ar back?

#4 2013-02-10 04:01:58

Re: rsync -ar / to external drive then encrypt disks and rysnc -ar back?

#5 2013-02-10 04:05:41

Re: rsync -ar / to external drive then encrypt disks and rysnc -ar back?

#6 2013-02-10 11:49:43

Re: rsync -ar / to external drive then encrypt disks and rysnc -ar back?

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