Ubuntu to add TPM-backed full-disk encryption

Posted Sep 7, 2023 17:45 UTC (Thu) by pm215 (subscriber, #98099)
In reply to: Ubuntu to add TPM-backed full-disk encryption by philipstorry
Parent article: Ubuntu to add TPM-backed full-disk encryption

For better or worse, though, most people do not manage their personal machines anything like the way an IT department would manage a company-wide fleet of systems.

I don't think that disk encryption moving to TPM is going to cause anybody to think "hmm, maybe I should have backups, or do them differently". It's just going to increase the number of hardware-failure scenarios which cause users who don't have backups to end up in the "sorry, your data is permanently lost" situation.

Ubuntu to add TPM-backed full-disk encryption

Posted Sep 7, 2023 21:16 UTC (Thu) by gerdesj (subscriber, #5446) [Link]

"For better or worse, though, most people do not manage their personal machines anything like the way an IT department would manage a company-wide fleet of systems."

If you want to use the feature, you will have to or potentially lose data. Most non techies realise that files saved locally get lost when a disc dies. That's why you use NASs, Nextcloud, *shudder* OneDrive etc. Most folks get that. Here we are debating an Ubuntu user who is capable of installing an OS. Surely they can repeat that feat and retrieve their files again?

Think about how most people treat their mobiles (cell phones). That includes long term sysadmins who should know better (me)! The palava, come upgrade time is hilarious as you find what settings don't transfer because you haven't logged into the correct combination of half forgotten Google/Samsung/Satan accounts. My data is safe as houses, following the 3-2-1 rule.

At the risk of sounding like an evangelist: Veeam offer "community" ie free as in beer editions of their backup products. There's a Linux agent which will happily backup to a NAS or a cloudy offering. You still need Windows to run the console and server, if you use them. A Win10/11 VM can do that. Postgres is now supported for the backend DB, so no more MS SQL or the horrific Vis Studio thing to manage it \o/.