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Is there a way to mount (read/write) an encrypted file system on Windows? By "encrypted" I mean whatever it is that Ubuntu does to encrypt a file system when you choose that option during formatting. The underlying file system is in NTFS format.

A related question: is it correct to assume that encrypting and the file system format are completely independent things? In other words, if I chose to encrypt an NTFS file system and a EXT4 file system, are they both encrypted the "same" way? (I understand that each file system lays out files differently, has different data structures etc).

Peachy
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Fasterz
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  • Typically, a partition is encrypted using one method or another (aes and dm-crypt being two). Inside a partition, there is a file system (NTFS, ext4...). The file system does not know it's on an encrypted partition. So phyiscal device | encryption by OS | file system | apps. Windows (or other) would need to would need to be able to set up the encryption at the just-above-device level, and then understand the filesystem (so NFTS fine, EXT4 not so fine). I believe True Crypt is available for Windows, not sure about the other options. – artfulrobot Oct 17 '12 at 15:55
  • There are some drives with native encryption, so the encryption and decryption are done at drive level, the OS is not involved and therefore not relevant to the issue. However the BIOS must allow the user to enter the encryption key before the OS can boot/load. Some laptops are able to do that (typically thinkpads). See this article on SED: http://www.computerweekly.com/feature/Self-encrypting-drives-SED-the-best-kept-secret-in-hard-drive-encryption-security – mins Jan 06 '13 at 18:26
  • Related and possible duplicate: http://askubuntu.com/questions/18751/how-to-encrypt-an-external-hard-drive-or-usb-key-using-a-cross-platform-solution – landroni Jan 23 '15 at 23:09

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