Truecrypt 5.0 PROBLEMS AND ISSUES

[TECHWG]

Here i would like you to post your problems/issues/bugs, since their forum is conveniently down...

here is my issue.

I mount my partitions and decide to delete a bunch of crap so i can make enough room to transfer everything onto other partitions to empty one by one and make a new crypted partition to make use of the new mode of encryption. I find a folder of coast to coast episodes, (30gb) and i hit Shift + Delete (to delete and bypass recycle bin) and normally this would take 10 seconds there or less. Its taking 5 seconds to delete one audio file, 15 mins later, 27 mins still remains on the count down on the delete and its still going one file by one file. So i figure its a bug, and i will put the old version on. But the download is removed. So i figure its a bug with the old mode of encryption, so i make a 1GB container FILE, and put a 500mg video on it, which is much faster. Then i delete that, and same problem 2 mins later its deleted. 2 mins do just delete a file? WTF is goin on? Their forum is down, i sent a bug complaint thing, but i would like to see if anyone else has an issue.

Can you replicate my problem?

I am on XP pro SP2, AMD x64 x2 4400+ 2GB memory, 3 hard drives, and i only use serpent algorithm.

[TECHWG]

Now i uninstalled Truecrypt, my whole system is taking forever to delete files. I have a 1 gb container on my desktop i made before i uninstalled truecrypt, and now i have rebooted, i copy it on my desktop again so i have "copy of 123" and that goes fine, and i shift + delete and i hit yes and i dont see anything, no progress bar nothing. and after like 1 min or 2 mins, the file disapears. and NO its not because i needed to press F5 on the desktop , i tried that. Something is very wrong. Writing files to a hard drive works, and it works as normal, deleting is more easy than copy, because all delete does is remove the file from the table, so it disapears, so why does delete take so damn long now, even withought truecrypt installed? i have NEVER had this problem in my entire life before.

[ttd]

I'm testing things a bit in vista to see if i can reproduce that behavior.

5gb file hosted NTFS volume (AES), 1.4gb single file copied quick and deleted instantly. 1,800 single files (total 500mb) also deleted instantly.

EDIT: System is an HP dv1710us laptop, 1.46ghz Celeron M 410 (Yonah single core), 1gb ram

[ttd]

The OS X version uses MacFuse in an odd way, when you mount a TC file or device, it maps as a fuse volume on the desktop, which then has a DMG file inside it which is the actual filesystem. It may be that the fuse volume isn't a real filesystem with a dmg in it, it might just represent things that way, but it sure will confuse people. Also noticed you can't yet create an HFS+ volume directly from truecrypt, though once you do format a volume as HFS+ truecrypt will mount it normally.

[Tumalu]

I gave it a shot, (deleting a 500MB file from a 1GB Serpent container) but didn't have any problems. I'm running XP SP2 on a ~4 year old computer, and the Serpent container I tried it with was nested into an AES encrypted partition. (And beyond that, I was also testing the system drive encryption in the background at the same time).

It almost sounds like your computer it trying to wipe the files instead of just a standard delete. But unless you have software that intercepts the command to bypass or empty the recycle bin, then I guess that's not possible.

[TECHWG]

"It almost sounds like your computer it trying to wipe the files instead of just a standard delete. But unless you have software that intercepts the command to bypass or empty the recycle bin, then I guess that's not possible."

You say that, and i guessed that, but since you said it, i went looking, and i found that for some reason my PGP is set to wipe files automatically, i was going through the options because i have not used it in a long LONG time, and i must have checked DOD wipe files, because now its unticked everything works perfectly. I am retarded, how can i miss a stupid option in another program? IDIOT! dont mind me.

Still this thread " may " prove useful for anyone else who has a "real" issue...

Im going to sit here and reflect on my stupidity :ouch:

[KookyMan]

Older Versions are available for download @ http://www.truecrypt.org/pastversions.php

However it appears they only provide 4.3a now as an "older version".

[TECHWG]

lol try and download it..
It matters not now, because i figured out it was PGP's stupid wiping options that screwed me up, not truecrypt. I would tell them to ignore the bug report, but they turn their forum off on purpose so they dont have to answer everyone all at once, and they ignore my emails every time i TRY to communicate with them. So nothing else i can do. No other company or "foundation" that i have emailed, ignores the emails and has a convenient thing about spam may interfeer with emails, written on the website.

[KookyMan]

I have to agree, the plausible deniability with regards to communications in this case is definitely not a desirable effect.

However, on the terms of Issues, I would like to know for those employing the full disk encryption, what kind of performance penalties are users discovering? Are boot times consistent? Data Access? Streaming Reads? Also give your encryption method for comparison.

[kpGrelling]

I have just upgraded from TrueCrypt 4.3a to TrueCrypt 5.0

I have several TrueCrypt file containers (some < 16MB, some > 4GB) saved on my 3TB Promise Technology NS4300N RAID 5 NAS (embedded Linux running Samba) on my local intranet.

I can MOUNT these network file containers, but upon trying to access them, I get an "Invalid Handle" error. This is completely reproducible and occurs for all file containers every time after fresh reboots (or not) of all systems.

Interestingly, if I copy the file containers to the local windows desktop, TrueCrypt 5.0 mounts them fine and I can access them.

However, the SAME file containers / NAS combination works fine in TrueCrypt 4.3a when the file containers are on EITHER the network file server or on my desktop.

I need to go back to 4.3a until this issue is resolved. Unfortunately, 4.3a has been removed from TrueCrypt project server - including the archive pages.

Any idea where I can find the TrueCrypt 4.3a windows zip file (from a reliable/secure source)?

If the TrueCrypt developers are reading this, PLEASE restore the download for 4.3a on the TrueCrypt.org website.

Thanks...

[kpGrelling]

BTW: I DID fill out a detailed bug report on the truecrypt project website.

[TECHWG]

Good, i did too, but i cant revoke my one, so with their oh so fantastic email communications never working, there no point emailing them. Because their spam filter aparently says Email = Spam

[faterider]

{QUOTE->
Any idea where I can find the TrueCrypt 4.3a windows zip file (from a reliable/secure source)?

If the TrueCrypt developers are reading this, PLEASE restore the download for 4.3a on the TrueCrypt.org website.
Thanks... <-QUOTE}

Here 4.3a is still available: http://www.snapfiles.com/get/TrueCrypt.html

With google you can find several popular download locations that keep older versions.

[gb63]

You can download 4.3a from the TrueCrypt site. Go to the downloads page, then scroll down for other downloads.
If the mod will allow these official TrueCrypt links:

http://www.truecrypt.org/downloads2.php
or
http://www.truecrypt.org/pastversions.php

[dantz]

{QUOTE-> You can download 4.3a from the TrueCrypt site. Go to the downloads page, then scroll down for other downloads.
If the mod will allow these official TrueCrypt links:

http://www.truecrypt.org/downloads2.php
or
http://www.truecrypt.org/pastversions.php <-QUOTE}
CAUTION: It appears that a mistake has been made. As of this writing, the version you will get by following that link is not version 4.3a. The filename implies that it is 4.3a (which by the way should come in a zipfile, not an exe), but the file properties refer to version 5.0. Furthermore, the MD5 hashes don't match up with either version.

Hopefully this will be fixed sometime soon, but in the meantime you can't download v 4.3a from the official site.

edit: The previously posted SnapFiles site has the correct version, and the MD5 hash was good as of this writing.

2nd edit: It appears that I was wrong about version 4.3a. For some reason it has recentlly been repackaged and is now available in an .exe file. See the posts below for details.

[gb63]

dantz -
The second link I provided will allow you to download 4.3a from the official site.
When you run the .exe, you can use the extract option and compare the files to existing 4.3a files. I just tested that. I also have the 4.3a zip, and compared to those extracted as same.
I recommend users download from the TC site.

[gb63]

Let me make this clear, in case of possible misunderstanding.
I have a system with 4.3a running. Also, I have all prior files and versions.
I tested again by downloading the exe file in the second link I gave above.
TC has changed the installer type and is now posting as exe file rather than a zip as before.
I extracted all files and compared using UltraCompare. All are correct.
Although I have no reason to mistrust the other posting using another site location, in general, it is best to recommend downloading from the official site.
Dantz, would you please re-check and advise?

[dantz]

{QUOTE-> dantz -
The second link I provided will allow you to download 4.3a from the official site.
When you run the .exe, you can use the extract option and compare the files to existing 4.3a files. I just tested that. I also have the 4.3a zip, and compared to those extracted as same.
I recommend users download from the TC site. <-QUOTE}
So you're saying that version 4.3a has been repackaged, and now you have to run an .exe before you can compare the files? Me no likeee!

[gb63]

When you run the exe, it will allow you to install or extract. Extract and compare. Why mistrust an exe file from the official TC site?

[KookyMan]

I have 4.3a in zip form, along with the PGP signature of same. If there is need, I can give it to anyone who needs it.

[TECHWG]

How does 4.3a cause a 5.0 problem? im confused...

[gb63]

A poster above had requested that TC allow downloading of the previous 4.3a version. I tried to help by giving the TC location to get that previous version. Because TC has changed the installer, we veered into the present location.
Sorry.

[dantz]

{QUOTE-> How does 4.3a cause a 5.0 problem? im confused... <-QUOTE}
Yes, we're going off-topic. Guess we'll have to start another thread.

edit: I have to leave right now, so if somebody else wants to get it started I will join back in later.

[TECHWG]

No problem, just tired and confused, i thought 4.3a caused a problem. I want them to have the download too, i needed it when i thought i had a problem with 5.0 but so far so good now. I have 4.3a on file incase i need it.

[Tadoussac]

I had TC 4.3a in Travelers Mode on a USB Stick - and I upgraded it to 5.0 earlier today. Everything is working nicely!

Although the Whole Disk Encryption feature is enticing, there is no way that I am going to install TC5 on my HD until the TrueCrypt forums are up, and there is greater dialog among the users - and at least some input from the developers.

[LockBox]

{QUOTE-> I had TC 4.3a in Travelers Mode on a USB Stick - and I upgraded it to 5.0 earlier today. Everything is working nicely!

Although the Whole Disk Encryption feature is enticing, there is no way that I am going to install TC5 on my HD until the TrueCrypt forums are up, and there is greater dialog among the users - and at least some input from the developers. <-QUOTE}

If you have an image of your drive before trying the system encryption, why not try it? Mine is working fine - as advertised.

BTW, If you want to create a new image with TC5.0 on the drive, be sure that system encryption is turned off. You will get a normal image. Upon restoration, you will need to turn system encryption "on" and reboot.

[TECHWG]

{QUOTE-> If you have an image of your drive before trying the system encryption, why not try it? Mine is working fine - as advertised.

BTW, If you want to create a new image with TC5.0 on the drive, be sure that system encryption is turned off. You will get a normal image. Upon restoration, you will need to turn system encryption "on" and reboot. <-QUOTE}


Do you mean decrypt the hard drive before you make an image? what do you mean "turn off and turn on" i would guess you mean make a backup of your c:\ unencrypted in an image ?

[LockBox]

{QUOTE-> Do you mean decrypt the hard drive before you make an image? what do you mean "turn off and turn on" i would guess you mean make a backup of your c:\ unencrypted in an image ? <-QUOTE}

Exactly, I'm talking about for testing purposes.

[Tadoussac]

{QUOTE-> If you have an image of your drive before trying the system encryption, why not try it? Mine is working fine - as advertised.

BTW, If you want to create a new image with TC5.0 on the drive, be sure that system encryption is turned off. You will get a normal image. Upon restoration, you will need to turn system encryption "on" and reboot. <-QUOTE}


Thanks Gerard for the encouragement to image my HD before installation. It makes perfect sense - and I am pleased to learn that HD encryption can be toggled ON / OFF to enable imaging after TrueCrypt 5 is installed.

I am reluctant to charge forward (even with a saved image). I use a ThinkPad laptop, which has the HD locked with a Password set inside the BIOS - and some other security (fingerprint login) software that uses a security chip on the motherboard and a pre-boot area of the drive. Honestly, I am afraid to add another pre-boot program until I understand how the various pieces of software would behave afterward. OK - I admit it, I am a coward! :gack: LOL

[KookyMan]

I must say, I'm curious to know the outcome, but agree that you are right in being cautious in moving up to it, and your not a coward.

Let us know what happens when you finally do it.

[VokinLoksar]

Greetings everyone,

Just found this forum looking for other people who tried TrueCrypt 5.0. I downloaded that version yesterday and spent the evening today trying to get it to encrypt Windows XP on my laptop.

My experience so far...

First of all, I got a clean drive to test with and installed a fresh copy of Windows XP SP2. The step with creating a recovery CD was the source of the first problem.

Burning the image TC gives you with Alcohol 120% doesn't work. Maybe it requires some special configuration (I left all settings on default), but the burnt CD failed to validate. I then tried to burn a second CD with PowerISO - it wouldn't even recognize the file as a valid image.

Then I did what TC recommends, click on the link for burning software, download InfraRecorder and burn with that. This did work, though I think it should be a considered a bug when your iso image requires some special software to use.

Anyway, validation passed and at that point I ran into the same issue as a number of other people on this forum. At 21% the encryption process died with a "Data error (cyclic redundancy check)" message. I ran checkdisk with the option to test for bad sectors. There were no problems found.

So that's where I am at this point - 21% of the disk (the partition rather) is encrypted, the rest isn't. I have no problems with the TC boot loader, so I can restart and do whatever else I want to the machine.

If anyone finds a solution to the data error problem, please post it here.

[TECHWG]

perhaps antivirus software is removing the boot program or something. I am trying this now in my system, i have sorted out my partitions with newly encrypted versions, so im nice and fresh on XTS, and now im testing WDE on my c:\ partition. i had alcohol problem too, but i did not burn when i saw that screen, i went to the link on the program and got another advanced program from the list. It varified, and so far im at 55% complete encrypted.

[QKhI2]

I tried whole-disk encryption with TC5.
System: Windows XP SP2, 2 partitions (well, 3; primary NTFS, extended, in-extended NTFS)

Installed fine; configuration process a breeze. Rebooted and carried out encryption fine.

After rebooting post-encryption the second NTFS partition ceased to be detected by the operating system. I could not mount it in any way or form.
A partition repair tool (ARAX disk doctor) detected the partition, but I couldn't mount nor use it.

The Disk Management in 'Computer Manager' in windows saw the partition as free space on the drive, but the extended partition itself wrapping it was still present. i.e. the partition itself was not detected - not that it was detected as not being a partition.

I had a hypothesis that I perhaps had to mount this other 'non-partition' somehow but honestly that didn't make much sense to me and I couldn't work out how to do it regardless.

I am looking forward to TC5 working properly. TC4 changed my computing life.

[And]

{QUOTE-> Greetings everyone,
Anyway, validation passed and at that point I ran into the same issue as a number of other people on this forum. At 21% the encryption process died with a "Data error (cyclic redundancy check)" message. I ran checkdisk with the option to test for bad sectors. There were no problems found.
<-QUOTE}

http://img159.imageshack.us/my.php?image=truecryptdataerrorxp3.jpg

I get the same error and running check disk didn't solve the problem for me either.

[Norrismj]

Hi

I'm running XP SP2 with my primary disc partitioned into C and D drives. I have installed Truecrypt 5, prepared my rescue disc and encrypted my C drive. However when I boot from my C drive the only dialog that I get is 'TrueCrypt Boot Loader'. I do not get any of the options.

I have restored the boot loader but it doesn't change things. I then restored the data key but this had no effect. However I can boot directly from the rescue disc without problems.

Has anyone got any suggestions as to how I can sort this out?

Thanks

Mike

[Zohan]

{QUOTE-> I have just upgraded from TrueCrypt 4.3a to TrueCrypt 5.0

I have several TrueCrypt file containers (some < 16MB, some > 4GB) saved on my 3TB Promise Technology NS4300N RAID 5 NAS (embedded Linux running Samba) on my local intranet.

I can MOUNT these network file containers, but upon trying to access them, I get an "Invalid Handle" error. This is completely reproducible and occurs for all file containers every time after fresh reboots (or not) of all systems.

Interestingly, if I copy the file containers to the local windows desktop, TrueCrypt 5.0 mounts them fine and I can access them.

However, the SAME file containers / NAS combination works fine in TrueCrypt 4.3a when the file containers are on EITHER the network file server or on my desktop.

...

Thanks... <-QUOTE}

I, too, am experiencing the "Invalid Handle" error when trying to access a network file container with TrueCrypt 5.0. All my symptoms are the same as "kpGrelling" describes with one interesting addition ... the file container that I cannot access from my PC, my wife CAN access from her Mac.

I originally created the TrueCrypt 5.0 file container (that I am referring to above) on my PC and can access it locally without problem. I copied the file container to a network drive that my wife's Mac has access to ... and she can access it fine. But, as noted above, I cannot access the file container from my PC (the PC that created the file container) when the file container resides on the network drive.

[KookyMan]

To those who are getting the CRC Error during encryption, after looking at the graphic, an idea has come to mind.

Try running a full chkdsk on the drive(s) in question. Its possible that the error exists in the source data itself, and TrueCrypt is attempting to prevent further damage.

[Tadoussac]

Posted by Tadoussac
{QUOTE-> I use a ThinkPad laptop, which has the HD locked with a Password set inside the BIOS - and some other security (fingerprint login) software that uses a security chip on the motherboard and a pre-boot area of the drive. Honestly, I am afraid to add another pre-boot program until I understand how the various pieces of software would behave afterward. <-QUOTE}

After making a fresh HD image, I decided to install TC5.0 and test Full Drive Encryption - despite my earlier concerns about conflicts with other pre-Boot software on my laptop. Here's what happened next:

(1) On the reboot, where you test the TC Bootloader, I was greeted with a BSOD: "Hardware Malfunction - MMI: Parity Check / Memory Parity Error". I did a forced shut-down with the power button.

(2) On the next reboot, the 1st screen to open was the TC Bootloader. When I entered my PW, the WinXP splashscreen loaded - but then the screen went black, and all HD activity stopped. I did another forced (power button) shutdown.

(3) On the 3rd reboot, my ThinkPad security login software (also pre-boot) loaded for the fingerprint reader. After swiping, and having the credentials accepted, the TC Bootloader opened --- but this led me to the same black screen I received in step 2.

Fortunately, the TrueCrypt developers built in a simple way to exit a failed Bootloader test, and I was able to recover my original bootloader without using the TC Rescue Disk, my image DVDs, or any other heroic efforts. (phew!)

My conclusions:

1) I believe the Memory Parity Error message was software driven - (I double checked with memtest-86, and passed all tests.)

2) The TC bootloader conflicts with the ThinkPad pre-boot security software. Hopefully a work-around will be discovered.

3) I'm back to TC5 traveler mode - it's terrific, and I am happy.

[VokinLoksar]

{QUOTE-> To those who are getting the CRC Error during encryption, after looking at the graphic, an idea has come to mind.

Try running a full chkdsk on the drive(s) in question. Its possible that the error exists in the source data itself, and TrueCrypt is attempting to prevent further damage. <-QUOTE}

We did that already, it didn't change anything.

Right now I booted from a FreeBSD 7 install CD and am overwriting the contents of the entire disk with random data (should have done that anyway before encrypting). Afterward I'll do a disk refresh to make sure that there are no problems reading any sectors.

Somehow though I think this is a problem with TC. Will reinstall XP once the overwrite procedure finishes, maybe something will change.

[kansei]

{QUOTE-> Posted by Tadoussac

(2) On the next reboot, the 1st screen to open was the TC Bootloader. When I entered my PW, the WinXP splashscreen loaded - but then the screen went black, and all HD activity stopped. I did another forced (power button) shutdown. <-QUOTE}

I tried 5.0 on several Thinkpads and had the same issue with older ones (X31, T43), but no problem with a T60. I traced the issue to the ATI video drivers where these conflict with the Truecrypt drivers. I also tried different ATI drivers with no luck.

Once I reverted to the VGA drivers on the X31, it booted fine and started encrypting. Since the MS VGA driver does not work well at all (very slow), I decided to just create a hidden volume for now and wait until the TC forums are back up to see if there is a fix or a work-around.

[Tadoussac]

{QUOTE-> I tried 5.0 on several Thinkpads and had the same issue with older ones (X31, T43), but no problem with a T60. I traced the issue to the ATI video drivers where these conflict with the Truecrypt drivers. <-QUOTE}

Thanks kansei!

I have an R60, which is relatively new - and it uses the ATI Drivers. I never considered that video drivers might be an issue. Like you, I am waiting until the TC forums are up, and more people are offering feedback.

Thanks.

[JamieHolloway]

When attempting to encrypt the system partition, I encountered the "data error (cyclic redundancy check)" popup after the 11%-complete on encrypting the system disk. I hit the defer button, followed the directions to decrypt the volume, and TrueCrypt effectively restored the system to as-was. I ran a check disk on the drive, but this did not resolve the problem. If anyone discovers a solution to this problem, please post.

I haven't encountered any other problem with TrueCrypt 5.0 after testing various features on a couple of different Windows platforms -- great software.

Future feature suggestion -- When encrypting the system disk, TrueCrypt forces you to create a rescue CD. I didn't have software ready to burn the CD, so I networked the ISO file over to another machine, burned a CD, then mounted it in the laptop's drive, and TrueCrypt validated and moved forward... It would be nice if TrueCrypt would let you manually skip the create-rescue step if you wanted to during testing. Also, if a USB drive could be used for this purpose, it would offer greater utility over a CD.
__________________________________

Testing environment -- Truecrypt 5.0, ThinkPad X41, Windows Vista, both current on maint…this laptop does not have the IBM-preboot config and has been reformatted ground up. It has two NTFS primary partitions on the disk, and I attempted to use both encryption options 1) Encrypt the Windows system partition… and 2) Encrypt the Whole disk… and both scenarios resulted in the same CRC data-error problem.

[reparsed]

{QUOTE-> When attempting to encrypt the system partition, I encountered the "data error (cyclic redundancy check)" popup after the 11%-complete on encrypting the system disk. I hit the defer button, followed the directions to decrypt the volume, and TrueCrypt effectively restored the system to as-was. I ran a check disk on the drive, but this did not resolve the problem. If anyone discovers a solution to this problem, please post. <-QUOTE}

I had the same problem with a CRC error. I ran SpinRite (from GRC.com) on the partition and it found 1 bad sector. After SpinRite was finished with the partition I tried TC system partition encryption again with success.

[LockBox]

{QUOTE-> I had the same problem with a CRC error. I ran SpinRite (from GRC.com) on the partition and it found 1 bad sector. After SpinRite was finished with the partition I tried TC system partition encryption again with success. <-QUOTE}

Heavy drive activity "fixed" your problem. SpinRite is a joke. No serious person in the IT industry or in Data Recovery accepts it as a legitimate program. Steve Gibson has been exposed so many times that it's hard to believe anyone still pays any attention to him.

[reparsed]

{QUOTE-> Heavy drive activity "fixed" your problem. SpinRite is a joke. No serious person in the IT industry or in Data Recovery accepts it as a legitimate program. Steve Gibson has been exposed so many times that it's hard to believe anyone still pays any attention to him. <-QUOTE}

Wow... :doubt:

[VokinLoksar]

{QUOTE-> Heavy drive activity "fixed" your problem. SpinRite is a joke. No serious person in the IT industry or in Data Recovery accepts it as a legitimate program. Steve Gibson has been exposed so many times that it's hard to believe anyone still pays any attention to him. <-QUOTE}
I think you're on to something here. This morning I overwrote the contents of the entire drive with random data, followed by a second read/write op with no changes (dd if=/dev/random of=/dev/ad0 bs=1m && dd if=/dev/ad0 of=/dev/ad0 bs=1m).

I'm not sure if the second operation is needed, I wasn't in a rush so wanted to see if there might be any problems reading the data. When I got home I again installed Windows XP SP2 and tried to encrypt the system partition.

This time, the process went through with no problems at all. By the way, even though I wasn't able to use alcohol 120% to burn the recovery CD, it is able to mount the image to a virtual drive and pass validation.

Unfortunately, I'm not sure what to suggest to those people who run into this problem and are unable to overwrite the entire drive. See if just refreshing the contents does the trick (the second dd command). Otherwise I'm not really sure.

[And]

{QUOTE-> When attempting to encrypt the system partition, I encountered the "data error (cyclic redundancy check)" popup after the 11%-complete on encrypting the system disk. I hit the defer button, followed the directions to decrypt the volume, and TrueCrypt effectively restored the system to as-was. I ran a check disk on the drive, but this did not resolve the problem. If anyone discovers a solution to this problem, please post.

[...]

Future feature suggestion -- When encrypting the system disk, TrueCrypt forces you to create a rescue CD. I didn't have software ready to burn the CD, so I networked the ISO file over to another machine, burned a CD, then mounted it in the laptop's drive, and TrueCrypt validated and moved forward... It would be nice if TrueCrypt would let you manually skip the create-rescue step if you wanted to during testing. Also, if a USB drive could be used for this purpose, it would offer greater utility over a CD.
__________________________________

Testing environment -- Truecrypt 5.0, ThinkPad X41, Windows Vista, both current on maint…this laptop does not have the IBM-preboot config and has been reformatted ground up. It has two NTFS primary partitions on the disk, and I attempted to use both encryption options 1) Encrypt the Windows system partition… and 2) Encrypt the Whole disk… and both scenarios resulted in the same CRC data-error problem. <-QUOTE}


I encountered the same problem on an ThinkPad X41 (2525-63G) too (but at 46%), I really hope that this problem isn't connected with the computer model.

Have anyone successfully encrypted a ThinkPad X41 system drive?

I also agree that it would be nice to be able to skip recovery disc validation, my X41 doesn't have a CD/DVD-reader.

[VokinLoksar]

{QUOTE-> I encountered the same problem on an ThinkPad X41 (2525-63G) too (but at 46%), I really hope that this problem isn't connected with the computer model.

Have anyone successfully encrypted a ThinkPad X41 system drive?

I also agree that it would be nice to be able to skip recovery disc validation, my X41 doesn't have a CD/DVD-reader. <-QUOTE}

See my post here: http://forums.truecrypt.org/viewtopic.php?t=8708

Try doing a disk refresh and let us know if this solves the problem. Many people are having the same issue, so it would be good to know if a refresh is sufficient to fix it (because then it could be implemented as part of the encryption process).

[Joseph_N]

{QUOTE-> I am reluctant to charge forward (even with a saved image). I use a ThinkPad laptop, which has the HD locked with a Password set inside the BIOS - and some other security (fingerprint login) software that uses a security chip on the motherboard and a pre-boot area of the drive. Honestly, I am afraid to add another pre-boot program until I understand how the various pieces of software would behave afterward. <-QUOTE}I have what sounds like an identical setup. Have you tried TC5 yet, or found anything to suggest there would/would not be a problem with the stacked pre-boot security?

[Tadoussac]

{QUOTE-> I have what sounds like an identical setup. Have you tried TC5 yet, or found anything to suggest there would/would not be a problem with the stacked pre-boot security? <-QUOTE}

Hi Joseph_N:

Yes, I tried TC5 - it was not successful, and I describe my experience in this thead, post #38.

[And]

{QUOTE-> See my post here: http://forums.truecrypt.org/viewtopic.php?t=8708

Try doing a disk refresh and let us know if this solves the problem. Many people are having the same issue, so it would be good to know if a refresh is sufficient to fix it (because then it could be implemented as part of the encryption process). <-QUOTE}

Thank you for the suggestion. I tried to encrypt again with the 3-pass wipe mode enabled, but unfortunately the encryption process halted at the same spot. I don't have Linux installed but I will try to find a live CD so I can execute the commands that you suggested.

I'm glad that I found an old CD-RW disc laying around, otherwise I would be out of blank disk by now ;-)

[Roidhun]

My experience with TC5 and system encryption:

System HP ZE2345EA laptop. 80 GB harddisk in one NTFS partition. Win XP fully updated.

First attempt: On encryption CRC error at about 85%. WDLifeGuard found a bad sector, said it was correctable and corrected it.
This was followed by a full decrypt and restore of original bootloader via TC Rescue Disk.

Second attempt: After selecting system encryption, prechecking and rebooting, I got the black screen.
Booted into Safe Mode and encryption ran to completion.
The system is now bootable in Safe Mode (fully encrypted), but not in normal mode - still black screen. I strongly suspect that the ATI drivers interfere with TC, (they have a tendency to interfere with almost everything), but I have not yet got as far as making a clean boot work so I can test it.

[Joseph_N]

{QUOTE-> The TC bootloader conflicts with the ThinkPad pre-boot security software. <-QUOTE}Very, very helpful information. Sorry you had to go through all that.

I was thinking that we might be going at this wrong. Instead of trying to make TC5 work with the TVT CSS or an HDD password, maybe we no longer need the TVT security devices. The IBM preboot primary partition would still be necessary, because it houses the TVT Rescue and Recovery workspace, but perhaps the TVT Client Security Solution apparatus can be disabled and the HDD and/or power-on passwords no longer need to be used. The only downside I can see is that TC5 is not hooked into the TPM chip, but I'm not sure that would really matter.

What do you think?

[isujosh]

My experience is not a happy one....

Windows XP SP2

Downloaded and installed TrueCrypt 5.0 (I've used 4.3a for ages without any issues)

Encrypted the System Drive/Partition and this went without a hitch. However the extended partitions I had on the same physical drive are now marked as 'Free Space' - this had all my data on it (which I had backed up before I started).

I'm am now going to decrypt the partition and uninstall 5.0 until someone sorts this major issue out. very disappointed.

[reparsed]

{QUOTE-> Encrypted the System Drive/Partition and this went without a hitch. However the extended partitions I had on the same physical drive are now marked as 'Free Space' - this had all my data on it (which I had backed up before I started).

I'm am now going to decrypt the partition and uninstall 5.0 until someone sorts this major issue out. very disappointed. <-QUOTE}

I have TC5 set up with an encrypted system drive. Partition 0 is a primary partition with XP installed. Partition 1 (not encrypted) is also a primary partition for data/documents. Everything works as expected.

[JamieHolloway]

{QUOTE-> My experience is not a happy one....
Encrypted the System Drive/Partition and this went without a hitch. However the extended partitions I had on the same physical drive are now marked as 'Free Space' - this had all my data on it (which I had backed up before I started). <-QUOTE}


Did you select the "Encrypt the Windows system partition" option, or the "Encrypt the whole drive" option?

[Roidhun]

{QUOTE-> My experience is not a happy one....

Windows XP SP2

Downloaded and installed TrueCrypt 5.0 (I've used 4.3a for ages without any issues)

Encrypted the System Drive/Partition and this went without a hitch. However the extended partitions I had on the same physical drive are now marked as 'Free Space' - this had all my data on it (which I had backed up before I started).

I'm am now going to decrypt the partition and uninstall 5.0 until someone sorts this major issue out. very disappointed. <-QUOTE}

This is a listed issue on the TC website...

[isujosh]

Managed to decrypt the system partition and the extended partions returned unaffected as per the instructions on the TrueCrypt forum here:

http://forums.truecrypt.org/viewtopic.php?t=8631

Thanks for everyones concerns!

[nanana1]

{QUOTE-> Managed to decrypt the system partition and the extended partions returned unaffected as per the instructions on the TrueCrypt forum here:

http://forums.truecrypt.org/viewtopic.php?t=8631

Thanks for everyones concerns! <-QUOTE}

For those who have not registered at the truecrypt forum and don't plan to do so, this is what was posted :

"If you encrypt an entire system drive that contains extended partitions, the extended partitions become inaccessible. However, note that the data stored on the partitions are not lost (they are only encrypted). To make the partitions accessible again, please decrypt the entire drive (from the menu bar of the main TrueCrypt window, select System > Permanently Decrypt System Partition/Drive) and then restart the computer. This issue will be addressed in the next version of TrueCrypt."