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I am awaiting the delivery of a new laptop that has no OS on it. I am going to install 14.04LTS and I am wondering what are the pros and cons of an encrypted Ubuntu installation?

I assume pros are to do with security but I would appreciate finding out how much different it is from an un-encrypted install. Cons I was thinking would it affect the computers performance level but interested would this be noticeable in everyday use.

Computer you mostly be used for browsing, some downloading, LaTeX, and a little gaming (steam).

Some basic spec on my computer are, Intel Haswell i3 2.6ghz chip, 4gb Ram, 120gb mSata SSD(also have a 1tb HDD that I'll use for data).

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  • Does this not cover it?
    – Wilf
    Aug 14, 2014 at 14:24

1 Answer 1

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You will have two options to Chose when you are going through the install

  1. You can encrypt the entire drive and at boot it will require a password at each boot in order to work and will then proceed to boot normally. this is the most secure way to lock down your PC

  2. you can just encrypt your Home folder where you store documents and pictures and other files. When you login, your home folder is decrypted and you can use it as normal.

I have used both and didn't see much of a performance decrease from ether. Now something to keep in mind is how to recover your info in case your motherboard died and you need to get the info of the drive.

I know for the home folder encryption Ubuntu will help you set it up once the system is installed and will give you a recovery key to use in this case but i'm not sure about the full hard drive encryption which may not have the ability.

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