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de_dave | 9 years ago

I use the standard hardware encryption of my SSD (a Samsung 830 in my 2012-era Dell XPS 13), which requires I enter the passphrase when I turn my machine on.

Advantages:

  - OS neutral
  - Seemingly as fast as running 'unencrypted' 
    (I assume performance is identical, the only
    difference being the passphrase is stored in
    my head rather than the BIOS)

Disadvantages:

  - Limited to an 8-char (!) ASCII passphrase
  - I've no idea how secure it really is
  - Can't audit the algorithm (not that I have
    the technical ability to)

discuss

d33|9 years ago

That sounds like an annoyance, not encryption to me.

centizen|9 years ago

It's the 8-char password that I find absurd - that would take about 2 hours to brute force max.

eeZi|9 years ago

It does actually encrypt your data, and if it's correctly implemented, it's fine. Those drives sell for a few years now and not a single exploit is known.

For most people this is more than enough.

de_dave|9 years ago

You're correct, it's not going to stop someone who knows exactly what they're doing and has the time/patience/tools to brute force. But it is enough to stop casual thieves from stealing more than just hardware, which is (fortunately) my main concern.

popey456963|9 years ago

Generally as you increase security you will lose usability and vice versa. It's about weighing the advantages against the disadvantages.

_RPM|9 years ago

It reminds me of how I set a boot password in the BIOS on my HP laptop. I now have forgot the admin password in order to remove that "feature". I have no idea how I can fix it. The laptop is bricked. I can't install Linux on it because it is set not to boot from USB or CD/ROM