I have been trying to encrypt my home directory using the instructions here: http://www.howtogeek.com/116032/how-to-encrypt-your-home-folder-after-installing-ubuntu/, but it failed part of the way through after running the command sudo ecryptfs-migrate-home -u eddy
. Here are the last few lines output before the programme terminated:
android_workspace/MyFirstApp/src/com/eddytheb/myfirstapp/DisplayMessageActivity.java
1,463 100% 4.91kB/s 0:00:00 (xfr#200443, to-chk=1/221932)
android_workspace/MyFirstApp/src/com/eddytheb/myfirstapp/MainActivity.java
1,025 100% 3.34kB/s 0:00:00 (xfr#200444, to-chk=0/221932)
information/
preprobe/
rsync error: some files/attrs were not transferred (see previous errors) (code 23) at main.c(1183) [sender=3.1.1]
I've had a look for "previous errors", but I can't see anything, it looks to me like there's basically a line like the following for every file, but I cannot see back to the beginning of the command because it has filled my terminal as far back as I can scroll.
Pictures/2016/Photos2016Edited/IMG_20160720_124505.jpg
2,118,107 100% 3.05MB/s 0:00:00 (xfr#197821, ir-chk=2133/221314)
So I'd like to know, did the encryption work? Did it work for some files, fail for others and then stop? And if it failed what can I do? Is it safe to just try running the command again or will that result in some double-encryption issues? Perhaps I should just recover from my recent backup before trying again.
MORE INfO
Other info that suggests that the process worked:
After sudo ecryptfs-migrate-home -u eddy
failed I logged back in as eddy and two things happened that suggested something had changed: first, I was instructed to re-install dropbox; and second, I was instructed to view and make a note of my ecryptfs passphrase. I did both.
From my home directory ls -A /home
shows that I have an .ecryptfs directory, and that /home/.ecryptfs/eddy/.Private/ is full of files like 'ECRYPTFS_FNEK_ENCRYPTED.FXbO-DbnsIQgsUSOhExSAtVeUT6iVjljYTA-ze4e4UzGGHP1E0fZajIdzrID0q-TjIKzj75kD4Y-Ga6-'
If I do df -T
then I see that my home directory is mounted; I have a line that reads:
/home/.ecryptfs/eddy/.Private ecryptfs 957172372 454736500 453791216 51% /home/eddy
Other info that suggests that the process failed:
If I log out of eddy and log in as my temporary user with administrative rights, then sudo ls -lA /home/eddy/
shows my entire home directory. I was expecting just 4 files, as suggested by the answer to this question here: Check if partition is encrypted
Best Answer
A little bit of investigation, and I have confirmed that the encryption process worked. I created an Ubuntu boot usb drive, and booted my laptop from that, and when I tried to access the 'eddy' home directory it contained only the four items; Access-Your-Private-Data.desktop, .ecryptfs, .Private and README.txt. While if I looked in the home directory of another account then it contains all of the usual directories.