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I have a HP 6510b notebook.

Are there any solutions for hardware encryption? I mean I don't want to use software encryption like LUKS, but I don't want that that if my notebook gets stolen the thiefs could get my data stored on it.

Are there any methods, e.g.: a password prompt shows up when I want to boot my pc (even if i suspended/hibernated it)? So are there any "integrated" HDD encryptions available?

thank you.

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Is a hardware encrypted USB flash drive acceptable or does it have to be a Hard Disk Drive? – this.josh Jun 8 '11 at 23:05
I'm actually looking for an HDD because a pendrive has slower speed :\ – LanceBaynes Jun 9 '11 at 7:32
What are your latency and throughput requirements? – this.josh Jun 9 '11 at 19:18
your question sounds like you're asking for a "list of hardware encryption solutions" - but "list of X" type questions are offtopic (or at least will be made community wiki). Please see the FAQ - "shopping lists" are discouraged. Happily, the answers so far really saved the question, and made it worthwhile. – AviD♦ Jun 9 '11 at 20:59

3 Answers

up vote 3 down vote accepted

One of your actions should be to talk with HP's support about this, and hear which encryption solutions HP has validated for this need. Full-disk encryption is common for 'business class' notebooks. You can look into:

What you want goes a bit against the common solutions in this space:

  • You can get 'hardware' full disk encryption, but then you only enter the password when booting up from a full power down.
  • You could use 'software' full disk encryption such as Microsoft BitLocker, but then that's not "hardware" as you want it.
  • Or you could leave your boot drives un-encrypted, and have a data-only partition that is encrypted via fx Truecrypt, and is automatically un-mounted when you Hibernate. But that's not full disk encryption, and would by default fx not encrypt your browser history and saved form data.
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You can get 'hardware' full disk encryption, but then you only enter the password when booting up from a full power down. - that would be ~good for me. the problem is I don't know such a solutions.. are there any? – LanceBaynes Jun 9 '11 at 12:07
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@LanceBaynes: The Intel 320 SSD has this, AFAIK the newest Sandforce 22xx based SSD can have it, and most traditional harddisk drives from large manufacturers have it on specific models. But you need to look at how the drive password is set, generally it's set by the BIOS boot password together with TPM module -- ask your notebook manufacturer. One example of a HDD with optional encryption engine is Seagate Momentus: seagate.com/www/en-us/products/laptops/laptop-hard-drives – Jesper Mortensen Jun 9 '11 at 12:29
thank you very much – LanceBaynes Jun 16 '11 at 7:48
up vote 2 down vote

You don't need hardware encryption. You don't need an integrated HDD encryption solution. Just use software encryption. It is simple, easy to deploy, and works great. I can highly recommand Truecrypt. I've also heard that PGP's full-disk encryption software is good, but I haven't tried it personally.

(You say you don't want to use software encryption, but you don't say why not. If you want a better answer, you'll have to do a better job of explaining the requirements and constraints, not just ruling out a particular solution for no particular reason.)

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If Lance wants to use software encryption, he can use LUKS, which is built into the Linux kernel and works out of the box on most distributions. – Gilles Jun 9 '11 at 11:47
up vote 2 down vote

Use TrueCrypt with an Intel chip that supports AES-NI, and you have a pseudo-hardware based encryption. Meaning this is fast. My guess for the hardware requirement is speed. This should make the speed a non-issue.

Basically, any chip that is Core i5 or better may support hardware AES.

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