Unable to mount External Encrypted Hard Drive(256-bit AES)

[gomes9563]

Hello guys.

I recently installed the Ubuntu 18.04 lts, and I'm trying to mount an external Hard Drive of 500 Gb encrypted with 256-bit AES. After a lot of research and tries(...,cryptsetup), I wasn't able to do it. I know Ubuntu can detect the external Hard Drive...

https://imgur.com/a/5YaaU2q

I would appreciate some help or ideas for me to explore.
Thanks, guys.

 

[wizardfromoz]

G'day @gomes9563 , do you have the encryption passphrase available to you?

Wizard

 

[gomes9563]

Hello @wizardfromoz , yes I have. I'm only having this problem in Ubuntu, because I can have acess in my Windows. I guess I could format the hard drive, but that is not the solution I'm looking for.
Thanks.

 

[wizardfromoz]

I understand.

I am not an expert in encryption, nor have I used LVM.

But take a look at this old article

https://askubuntu.com/questions/63594/mount-encrypted-volumes-from-command-line

... and see if it has relevance to you. I am aware you mentioned that you had tried cryptsetup, but not aware of the actual details.

Google search I used was

linux unencrypt and mount hard drive

Good luck

Wizard

BTW the part I was looking at got 78 votes, answered by
Georg Schölly

 

[gomes9563]

Hello again @wizardfromoz , and thanks for the support.
I have already tried that specific suggestion, but for some reason, it was not possible to mount my device.

g_gomes95@gomesge62:~$ lsblk
NAME   MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
loop0    7:0    0   3,7M  1 loop /snap/gnome-system-monitor/57
loop1    7:1    0  89,5M  1 loop /snap/core/6130
loop2    7:2    0   174M  1 loop /snap/spotify/34
loop3    7:3    0    91M  1 loop /snap/core/6405
loop4    7:4    0  34,7M  1 loop /snap/gtk-common-themes/319
loop5    7:5    0   2,3M  1 loop /snap/gnome-calculator/260
loop6    7:6    0  11,9M  1 loop /snap/dmd/49
loop7    7:7    0   3,7M  1 loop /snap/gnome-system-monitor/51
loop8    7:8    0 140,7M  1 loop /snap/gnome-3-26-1604/74
loop9    7:9    0  91,1M  1 loop /snap/core/6259
loop10   7:10   0 174,4M  1 loop /snap/spotify/31
loop11   7:11   0 140,7M  1 loop /snap/gnome-3-26-1604/78
loop12   7:12   0  14,5M  1 loop /snap/gnome-logs/45
loop13   7:13   0   2,3M  1 loop /snap/gnome-calculator/180
loop14   7:14   0  34,8M  1 loop /snap/gtk-common-themes/1122
loop15   7:15   0  34,6M  1 loop /snap/gtk-common-themes/818
loop16   7:16   0 174,4M  1 loop /snap/spotify/30
loop17   7:17   0  14,5M  1 loop /snap/gnome-logs/37
loop18   7:18   0  53,7M  1 loop /snap/core18/719
loop19   7:19   0 140,9M  1 loop /snap/gnome-3-26-1604/70
loop20   7:20   0   6,7M  1 loop /snap/dub/27
loop21   7:21   0    13M  1 loop /snap/gnome-characters/139
loop22   7:22   0    13M  1 loop /snap/gnome-characters/103
loop23   7:23   0  11,6M  1 loop /snap/dmd/40
loop24   7:24   0   7,5M  1 loop /snap/canonical-livepatch/54
loop25   7:25   0   7,5M  1 loop /snap/canonical-livepatch/58
sda      8:0    0 119,2G  0 disk
├─sda1   8:1    0   499M  0 part
├─sda2   8:2    0    99M  0 part /boot/efi
├─sda3   8:3    0    16M  0 part
├─sda4   8:4    0    72G  0 part
└─sda5   8:5    0  46,6G  0 part /
sdb      8:16   0 931,5G  0 disk
├─sdb1   8:17   0 349,6G  0 part /home
└─sdb2   8:18   0 581,9G  0 part
sdc      8:32   0 465,7G  0 disk
└─sdc1   8:33   0 465,7G  0 part
sr0     11:0    1  1024M  0 rom
g_gomes95@gomesge62:~$ sudo cryptsetup luksOpen /dev/sdc1 my_encrypted_volume
g_gomes95@gomesge62:~$ sudo mkdir /media/my_device
g_gomes95@gomesge62:~$ sudo mount /dev/mapper/my_encrypted_volume /media/my_device
mount: /media/my_device: o dispositivo especial /dev/mapper/my_encrypted_volume não existe.
g_gomes95@gomesge62:~$

 

[atanere]

I'm only having this problem in Ubuntu, because I can have acess in my Windows. I guess I could format the hard drive, but that is not the solution I'm looking for.

I know practically nothing about encryption, but a little searching around, along with what you said above, gives me this impression:

1. AES-256 is an "algorithm" used by many software applications to provide very secure encryption.
2. Using the same algorithm does not automatically provide compatibility between software applications.
3. The software you are using successfully with Windows is likely not available in Linux. (Bitlocker?)
4. Cryptsetup is a Linux-only software solution... again, not compatible with your Windows methods.

This article covers various methods of encrypting a USB flash drive, but I'd guess that the software and methods would be the same for your external hard drive. Of the software they mention, it looks like VeraCrypt might be your best solution to use between Windows and Linux.

Personally, I'd discourage encryption on an entire drive anyway unless you have a great need. I've always felt that encryption is more trouble than its worth, with probably the sole exception of my password manager database.

Good luck!

 

[wizardfromoz]

Gomes, can you please give us the output from

sudo blkid /dev/sdc1

?

Thanks

Wiz

 

[gomes9563]

Once again thanks guys.
@wizardfromoz here is the output:

g_gomes95@gomesge62:~$ sudo blkid /dev/sdc1
[sudo] senha para g_gomes95:
/dev/sdc1: PARTUUID="d3d847c4-01"

@atanere that's the feeling that I'm having too, here is a screenshot from WD's specifications page related with my specify hard disk(500 Gb)
https://imgur.com/a/9Er4psF

 

[wizardfromoz]

Gomes, after this Post I am moving this Thread to General Linux, where hopefully it will get a wider audience (and so, more help) for you.

Thanks for that output above.

A typical output for such a command, that had been encrypted as an LVM volume, would be, for example

/dev/sdc1: UUID="xxxxxxxxxxxx" TYPE="crypto_LUKS"

... so the absence of that indicates, to my meagre knowledge, that we are heading up the wrong street?

For the moment, I am out of ideas, regrettably, but I will look around, and if I have anything further, I will report back here

Wizard

 

[wizardfromoz]

Gomes, after this Post I am moving this Thread to General Linux, where hopefully it will get a wider audience (and so, more help) for you.

Thanks for that output above.

A typical output for such a command, that had been encrypted as an LVM volume, would be, for example

/dev/sdc1: UUID="xxxxxxxxxxxx" TYPE="crypto_LUKS"

... so the absence of that indicates, to my meagre knowledge, that we are heading up the wrong street?

For the moment, I am out of ideas, regrettably, but I will look around, and if I have anything further, I will report back here

Wizard

 

[gomes9563]

I had to do a factory reset to solve the issue.
Thanks for the help.