full disk encryption on ASUS Eee PC 1005PE experience

[dark159123]

as you may have seen on my thread eee pc 1005ha wlan cracking capabilities i am thinking (in the favor of yes) of buying an ASUS Eee PC 1005PE (i know it was a 1005HA in the other thread but this one has got longer battery life, and thats just too big of a plus to ignore for such a tiny increase in price), and as you may also have seen in the thread im "not" gonna do anything illegal with it, only experimenting with cracking "my own" wireless networks encryption/ETC, and therefore (and for the sake of it being really cool ... and just abit for protection if i should get caught - "without" a reason ofcourse) i am going make a full disk encryption on the HDD, but as i've been surfing around the interweb looking for information about FDE (or really i found out about it and then decided it would be really cool to do) ive seen a few people talking about the HDD's read/write speed slowing down abit, and also the general speed due to the CPU having to decrypt it ofcourse. ive gotten worried that the tiny 1005PE wouldn't be able to handle it without a major slowdown due to the small amount of CPU clocks/RAM.

so do you have any experience with FDE on an eee pc? or do you know anyone who has? or anything else?

by the way i'm gonna run (possibly dualboot) linux ( only, no windows ) and probably BT4 and dual boot ubuntu or just run ubuntu and install all the backtrack stuff. (this is not a discussion about the os!)
im thinking about using truecrypt for the FDE (this was the program i saw people talking about getting a slowdown with)
this is the guide i read

[DamegedSpy]

Well some point:
Encrypting the full HD including boot files is vulnerable to 'Cold Boot' Attack.
If by any reasons there is a court order to check the HD you _must_ provide the password/s else you face criminal charges for justice obstruction.(Really)

This is more effective. Get some post it and write in it: "Private Do Not Read/Open/Edit/Use any file/folder or program on this computer it contains private attorney-client confidential information." Paste it in a very visible place on the computer.

I do not encourage encryption so its up to you.(Which if you do I suggest only encrypting personal files)

[dark159123]

@damagedspy thanks i've never hard about that (cold boot attack)
thanks for the information, what if you "forgot" the password or you hid it in a stenographic image one your confiscated computer (not the laptop) which has become damaged after the feds "examined" it? XD
back to business, im not really doing it to defend myself against the feds (if so i would buy a bigger heavier laptop, with spikes...) or if i got in court ( i wouldn't do anything that serious... not that i would do anything ilegal in the first place *ninja smiley*), it would really just be in case someone (not fed-like) got access to my computer and tried to get access to my files eg. with a linux live cd, ETC. and just because it would be cool to brag about you "ultra secure" laptop (yep most of the people i know are seriously nooby!)

[DamegedSpy]

Now, there are some basic protections.

Password protect the BIOS and force it to boot from a specific device.
Which means any liveCD/DVD/BD would not work in an attack.

Some OS(Like Mac OSX) have some "secret" boot modes. Most notably the "single user mode" which gives you root access. This can be prevented with a firmware password.

For performance you should really only encrypt files that you need to remain hidden. Things like games or books should not be encrypted.

[dark159123]

i do know about a bios password, but as far as i know that won't protect against simply taking out the drive and putting it inside another computer.
and the boot forcing probably wouldnt be such a good idea either as i like to try out different linux distros
i would never use osX PERIOD
i wouldnt have any games as i will be using linux (i know it has got games but you know what i mean), and the books would proably be a good idea to encrypt too as some of them may be "less legal then preffered by the feds"

and then again ACTA