Disk encryption format for external drives that works on both macos and linux
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Is there any disk encryption scheme or format that can be used on both macos _and_ linux?
Linux cannot read Apple's drive encryption format, and LUKS is not supported on MacOS.
I tried using VeraCrypt encrypted partitions in exFat format and it mounted successfully several times on MacOS but after a system update exFat mounting of veracrypt volumes does not work anymore (no issues on linux). Also, exFat does not seem to be a reliable file system, so I searched for alternatives, but apart from **fat32**, **exFat** and **ntfs** I don't see any viable alternatives for a reliable cross-platform file system.
All of these formats have issues: **fat32** has file size limits, **exfat** veracrypt partitions are not mountable on macos, and **ntfs** is proprietary, linux support is not reliable, and veracrypt does not support it on linux/mac.
hfsplus
works fine on mac but is read-only on linux (probably worth mentioning that you can disable HFS+ journalling and allow writing on linux). I hoped to be able to use ext3/ext4
with veracrypt encryption but even though I have fuse with ext4fuse
working in read-only mode working for unencrypted drives veracrypt is apparently not able to interoperate with fuse drivers.
Fat32 would be a great option since it works well with veracrypt on any OS, but the file size limitation and lack of symlinks is simply not acceptable.
Any other options I might have missed?
Asked by ccpizza
(3233 rep)
Mar 28, 2019, 10:10 PM
Last activity: Feb 17, 2025, 02:19 PM
Last activity: Feb 17, 2025, 02:19 PM