I have a 750 GB HDD hard drive that was fully encrypted using linux mint. I bought a new laptop that can only take a single HD. Can I replace its hard drive with the 750 GB encrypted drive, and then install linux mint on it?
In other words I would boot from a CD and decrypt the drive from within linux mint. At that point would I be able to create a new partition on that drive (plenty of free space), and the big question is when I reboot, does the OS have to load before the drive is decrypted? I know there is a way to set up a flag while in Mint so that during the boot, I am asked for a password to unencrypt it, but would that happen before or after the OS tries to load?
The reason I am trying to do the above is that I have all my data on the 750 GB hard drive (the prior laptop, which had too many errors and finally cannot get into the OS, had an SSD where the OS was installed and the data partition on the HDD).
Install OS on encrypted hard drive?
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There are no such things as "stupid" questions. However if you think your question is a bit stupid, then this is the right place for you to post it. Stick to easy to-the-point questions that you feel people can answer fast. For long and complicated questions use the other forums in the support section.
Before you post read how to get help. Topics in this forum are automatically closed 6 months after creation.
Install OS on encrypted hard drive?
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Topic automatically closed 6 months after creation. New replies are no longer allowed.
Reason: Topic automatically closed 6 months after creation. New replies are no longer allowed.
Re: Install OS on encrypted hard drive?
Have you considered using a "live" cd or USB stick, that is functional OS on separate media, to do the decryption? If you install the OS you may destroy everything on the hard drive.
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catweazel
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Re: Install OS on encrypted hard drive?
"I would boot from a CD..."
"There is, ultimately, only one truth -- cogito, ergo sum -- everything else is an assumption." - Me, my swansong.
Re: Install OS on encrypted hard drive?
To answer my own question, it is probably possible, but not for a novice. On my old system (with 2 HDs), the encrypted drive, although I set up a flag in the GNOME Disks utility to have it decrypted during startup, it was not automatically recognized even when I logged into linux mint.