2mo ago

Transfer unencrypted home to new encrypted install?

So, I've decided that I want to reinstall Arch on my laptop, but this time separate /home from root, and encrypt it using LUKS.

I made a backup of my current, unencrypted home directory (I didn't separate them initially) using:

sudo rsync -aXS --exclude='/*/.gvfs' /home/. /mnt/home/.

Once I wipe Arch and reinstall it, encrypting /home, would I be able to transfer my unencrypted files to the encrypted /home partition, and have them become encrypted?

4 comments

Yep.
Once an encrypted storage volume is mounted and in use, you just transfer stuff into and out of it like normal.
There's nothing unusual about the files themselves.

That's pretty much it.

I typically try to not be logged in as the user whose home directory is being copied when I do this just to avoid any collisions. Otherwise this looks right.

You dont need to wipe anything, just shrink the filesystem from a live system.
Then create a new partition, which you encrypt and mount...