Question Encrypt everything + backup

[Sgt_Sykes]

Hey guys,

My desktop PC contains a SSD drive with triple-boot (XP/W7/W10 but I only use W7 regularly) and a bunch of HDDs.

For backing up, I use an external USB3 5TB HDD; I use Windows backup tool for the data and also Acronis True Image to create backup images of the SSD.

Now I want to encrypt everything, both on the PC and the external drive.

I want to have a multi-platform solution, so I want to use VeraCrypt for encryption but I'd also like to have an universal backup solution that would allow me to read the files (and backups) from a Linux system if needed.

So questions:

1) What would be a good multi-platform (and free) backup solution?

2) What problems should I anticipate when combining encryption (esp. VeraCrypt) and backup?

3) What would be the best way to achieve all of this? I'm especially warry about being able to boot from the SSD after I encrypt it.

Thanks.

 

[Traditore]

1. GNU Privacy Guard is considered better then Vera, but it has a Command Line Interface and you have to find GUI solutions for yourself, all the while they all differ in functionality. I would advise Vera as an all-round decent solution.
2. No problems if everything done by the book.
3. Read or watch some Vera guides. You'll see it's easy and you basically follow the prompts, select options and you're done. In the end, while using your encrypted PC, it will be nothing but inputing one extra password.

 

[Sgt_Sykes]

Um, thanks, well, what about backup then? Any suggestions regarding that?

I guess I'm gonna have to experiment with Vera a little before I entrust all my data to it.

 

[Sgt_Sykes]

Okay I'm encrypting my HDDs with VeraCrypt but I'm a bit stuck with the boot drive.

The SSD has 3 partitions, each with its own Win instance, and a Win7 bootloader/chooser. However, VeraCrypt does not support encrypting the entire drive with multiple OSs on it.

How do I proceed?
A) Just pick the option that there's only one OS and encrypt the whole drive?
B) Encrypt each partition separately from one of the OSes?
C) Encrypt each OS's partition while that OS is booted?

I couldn't find any answer for this and from my limited knowledge of VC I feel each of the 3 options could break booting.

Furthermore still not sure how to encrypt the backup USB drive, since it's bootable.

Help is appreciated.

 

[USAFRet]

Backups. Read here:

What is your backup situation at home? What is your backup situation at home? And if you don't do that, why not? Every single day, I read multiple threads here of "How do I get my stuff back?" or "That drive had 5 years of photos of my kids!!" Be it a dead drive, dropped phone, virus, accidental deletion, formatting the wrong... forums.tomshardware.com

 

[Sgt_Sykes]

Backups. Read here:

Yes, that's pretty elaborate. I just use a USB3.0 5TB drive which I connect now and then and run Windows Backup and Acronis image backup...

However that is the easy part. I'm more concerned with encryption (or rather the combination of backup and encryption). In the thread you mention you don't use it.

 

[USAFRet]

Right. I have no full disk encryption.
But a bootable Macrium Rescue USB would image whatever drive, encrypted or otherwise.

 

[USAFRet]

universal backup solution that would allow me to read the files (and backups) from a Linux system if needed.

This is more problematic, though.
This would seem to require an individual file/folder backup. FreeFileSync or SyncBackFree would probably work here.