Encrpyt Single Partitions

Hey all,

I was wondering if it's possible to encrypt single (or a few) partitions and if so, what tools would I use? I have seen a lot of tutorials for encrypting files and entire hard drives but I haven't seen much in terms of doing a single partition. I want to be able to create custom partitions and then encrypt them all individually, not just one fell swoop of the whole hard drive. Any ideas?

dm-crypt is the standard.

cool, can I use DM Crypt even after the partition is setup or is formating necessary? Is the partition bootable? can I mount and use it? Just curious.

Truecrypt has some capability in this regard as well.

Cool, which is better? Truecrypt or DM-Crypt? Is it more or less a "Pepsi & Coca-Cola" style argument or are there major differences?

I don't think for most things you're going to see a huge difference. I use Truecrypt because there are some files I have which are sensitive (like copies of bank account number, etc) but I don't feel a need to encrypt the entire disk. For this TrueCrypt excels.

The other thing would be if there is a particular feature you decide you need, for instance I think the consensus is that dm-crypt is better for whole disk encryption if such is even possible in Linux with TrueCrypt (I think it is in Windows, for instance).

Just remember: anyone with physical access to the machine while its running, some wits, and some technical savy can now get past your encryption using methods which have been recently disclosed.

Crypto is complicated. Happy reading: http://www.saout.de/misc/dm-crypt/