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Ubuntu disk encryption on a system with dual-boot Windows/Ubuntu

ec flag

I have a thinkpad x220 with one SSD containing Windows and Ubuntu 20.04 LTS dual-boot. I want to encrypt the Ubuntu partition, leaving Windows as it is. I am aware of the security limitations of such data-at-rest encryption, mainly that it does not protect from someone getting access to my computer when it is on.

My current Ubuntu installation does not use LVM, but I can reinstall it (although it would be nice not to). The Windows installation is OEM, so it is hard to reinstall (I have tried, and I can not get the license key and use it with a windows installer usb).

  1. I am a bit concerned with the performance drop caused by encryption on this somewhat old hardware. Are there any benchmarks which I could run, or other ways to estimate it?

  2. How can I cleanly delete Ubuntu before reinstalling, taking into account the windows installation?

  3. The main question: As far as I understand, I can backup the drive, then just reinstall Ubuntu (still 20.04) with LVM and LUKS. Would this work? And, are there any additional steps for the bootlader and dual-booting?

Nmath avatar
ng flag
#2 you need to overwrite the entire hard drive and wipe everything in order to protect your information at rest. Just formatting the disk only marks space as available, it doesn't delete anything.
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