Here are the steps to encrypt the hdd:

1. be sure that the device is not part of filesystem

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umount /dev/sdd1

2. Option 1: write some random data on hdd if you had critical files before

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2

#slow method to fill hdd with semi-random data
dd if=/dev/urandom of=/dev/sdd1

3. Option 2:

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2
3

#use next two commands to fill the hdd with "zero" data, much faster
dd if=/dev/urandom of=/dev/sdd1 count=2 bs=1M
dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdd1

3. start the encryption setup

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2
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cryptsetup -v --key-size 256 luksFormat /dev/sdd1
cryptsetup luksDump /dev/sdd1  #details for encrypted partition
cryptsetup luksOpen /dev/sdd1 buffalo

4. format hdd as ext3

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/sbin/mkfs.ext3 /dev/mapper/buffalo

5. mount the encrypted hdd

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mount /dev/mapper/buffalo /mnt/buffalo

6. add the entry in /etc/fstab

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/dev/mapper/buffalo     /mnt/buffalo      ext3    acl,user_xattr        1 2

7. Optional step: try tune2fs -L MYLABEL /dev/mapper/buffalo if you want a nice label for your hdd.

Enjoy!

So here is what I did:

As filesystem I used Fat32. I installed System RescueCD so I have a bootable linux distro with a lot of useful utilities like Partimage, GNU Parted, TestDisk, kernel for i386 and also for x86-64, … The instructions to install it on fat32 filesystem are here: Installation On USB Memory Stick, I used “Instalation from Windows” part.

Next step was to install Truecrypt for windows in portable mode, a step by step guide how to do it, is available here, to be able to open my encrypted volume.

Now I can create an encrypted volume, using truecrypt, where we store all my personal files, let’s say 2 giga.

In that encrypted volume I also installed PortableApps Suite and beeing a LaTeX user I also included USBTeX.

Ok, now I still have space to store some useful small iso images, like Clonezilla, Hiren Boot CD, Acronis True Image BootCD.

That’s my setup for USB Memory Stick, I have it with me all the time, I can use it on any system, mac, windows, linux, I have a bootable linux disto on it, and also my personal files encrypted with some useful software. Maybe I should mention that Portable Apps Suite works well also with wine on linux.

I did a dd copy of my complete usb stick configuration/setup, immediately after I finished to install everything I needed, because if I will lose it, then to be able to recover everything quickly.

My computers are here. For Amilo notebook I had already a PCMCIA card “Netgear WG511T” which is working fine on Windows XP, FreeBSD and Linux, Vaio notebook come with an integrated wifi card, I have installed on it Vista and I don’t have problems with the wireless card, so what I needed it was a PCI/USB wireless card for the desktop computer which has to work with Linux, Windows and also *BSD operating system and also a wireless router.

Surfing on the internet, reading opinions and different forums, I decided to buy a Linksys WRT54G wireless broadband router, maybe in the future I will try to install  linux on it (openwrt or something similar), and as PCI card I took Edimax EW-7128G wireless adapter which it seems that is working fine with Linux, Windows and FreeBSD/OpenBSD.

The router was very easy to set up and is working fine. I had some problems in installing the PCI wireless card on my Opensuse 10.3 box, finally it is working, I will write here a short tutorial in the next post.

I am really happy with my new wireless network.

-D [bind_address:]port

Specifies a local ``dynamic'' application-level port forwarding.
This works by allocating a socket to listen to port on the local
side, optionally bound to the specified bind_address.  Whenever a
connection is made to this port, the connection is forwarded over
the secure channel, and the application protocol is then used to
determine where to connect to from the remote machine.  Currently
the SOCKS4 and SOCKS5 protocols are supported, and ssh will act
as a SOCKS server.  Only root can forward privileged ports.  Dy-
namic port forwardings can also be specified in the configuration
file.

So the magic command is (you need a ssh account on server):

$ssh -D 10000 user@ssh-server

this will create a SOCKS proxy on port “10000″ of your computer. This is a nice tunnel to the server. Now, all you need to do is to set in xchat to use a SOCKS proxy. The proxy is, “localhost”, with the port 10000. That’s all, the xchat works and you can spend a lot of time on irc.

Also you can use this kind of tunnel for safe browsing. You have to set your preferences in Firefox to use a SOCKS proxy. When you browse, all the connections you make to websites will seem to originate from the server to which you SSH-ed. In addition, all outgoing and incoming data for the browsing session will be encrypted since it passes through the SSH connection. I am using this when I need access to some sites and I don’t have access from home, so I make the ssh-tunnel to university and then I can access them.

There are also applications (email clients) which may also support SOCKS proxy.

“Each DVD ripper has its strengths and weaknesses. If you want to use a ripper without libdvdcss2 (which has questionable legality in some countries), HandBrake is your only option. If you don’t mind installing the extra library, dvd::rip (for hard-core users) and Thoggen (for basic users) are the best options. And if you’re just ripping old DVDs you burned yourself, give the speedy VLC or the powerful AcidRip a try.”

Enjoy.