Re: How much does disk encryption add to boot time?

["Pace, Guy" <gpace () CIS CTC EDU>]

No, not hours. The initial restart or reboot of a full-disk encryption
may take some time, depending on the size of the drive and the tool you
choose to use. My experience is that if I leave things alone, my laptop
can finished full encryption in a couple hours. After that boot time,
login and all is about the same as before. My recommendation is to test
a tool configuration a couple times before putting it into production.
Once you set a configuration (single-signon, what is encrypted, what
features are included, etc.) you have to undo the encryption to change
it. Decrypting, changing configuration, and re-encrypting _can_ take up
to four hours on an 80 gb drive. At least, that is the case in the tool
I'm using.

Otherwise, I don't see any significant difference in performance or
operation.


Guy L. Pace, CISSP
Security Administrator
Center for Information Services (CIS)
3101 Northup Way, Suite 100
Bellevue, WA 98004
425-803-9724

gpace () cis ctc edu


-----Original Message-----
From: David Millar [mailto:millar () ISC UPENN EDU] 
Sent: Wednesday, May 02, 2007 7:43 AM
To: SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU
Subject: [SECURITY] How much does disk encryption add to boot time?

Does anyone have experience with roughly how much additional time it
takes to boot a typical late-model office laptop (or desktop)?  We
aren't talking hours here I hope.

Thanks.

Dave Millar
University Information Security Officer
University of Pennsylvania