Which software would you recommend for external HDD encryption?

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1

Hi there, just wanted to see if anybody had any suggestions on which software should I use for external HDD encryption ?
I will be using Fedora 35 to encrypt SanDisk Extreme Portable 2 TB SSD.
Will Gnome Disks do the job ? VeraCrypt ?

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If you plan to use it only with Linux, then use LUKS. Fedora uses it for disk encryption during installation, it’s safe and simple to use. If you choose encryption when formatting the drive in GNOME Disks, you’ll get LUKS encryption.

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If you plan to use it with both Windows and Linux, you have two options:

  • BitLocker – Windows-native encryption, it is supported in Fedora (starting from 34 without need to install additional packages) but only for unlocking, you’d need to create the BitLocker device from Windows.
  • VeraCrypt – supported in both Linux and Windows. You can use cryptsetup to unlock the device from Fedora, but you need to install the VeraCrypt tool (which is not available in Fedora repositories) to create it.
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