Just encrypted my system with truecrypt

Well I decided to try out the system encryption in truecrypt and so far so good. I have been using truecrypt containers for a long time, but I wanted to make my laptop more secure so I used the system encryption. Took about 4 hours to complete the system encryption and I used it part of the time during the process. My goal was to make the laptop data useless to anyone who might steal it and I believe that goal is accomplished now.

I notice no drop in speed using the laptop with it encrypted. The system is still responsive and everything seems to be running as usual. The system is fairly new with a core 2 duo and 3gb of ram and Vista 32bit. Don't forget to backup all your important data though first just in case you want to try this!

 

WigglyTheGreat, I am curious about whether you use an image backup utility (e.g., ShadowProtect Desktop or Norton Ghost) and, if so, how well that utility works to create/restore images of a system partition encrypted by TrueCrypt?

Thank you.

 

I use Acronis True Image to make images of my computers. I don't have the need to make images very often and probably do it less than once a month. I have read a bit about Acronis True Image on a Truecrypted system and it seems like I can either use the Acronis boot disc to create an image of the encrypted drive in it's encrypted state. Or if I choose to image from within windows I would be effectively making an unencrypted image and would most likely have to restore the original Truecrypt boot loader after I restored this type of image and encrypt the drive again. I haven't crossed this bridge yet so I will have it see how it goes.

It's my understanding that by using the Acronis boot disc to create the image of the fully encrypted system then the image file cannot be compressed so I will take that into consideration.

 

Yes, that’s the case which is of most interest: can an image created within Windows (and therefore in a plaintext condition) be restored and still be usable? When you have the opportunity to test that scenario, please do post your results.

 

Cleartext backups are usable. Just make sure you have your RescueCD in case the bootloader isn't restored. Even if you don't, you can still boot the drive by bypassing the TC bootloader.

I've tested it.