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I want to buy an external ssd for photo and files storage. I see interesting offers, but most external ssd's with good reviews are encrypted. As I understand, encryption software works on Mac and Windows.

I was wondering if such hard drives can be used under Ubuntu? I don't really care about encryption, since I want to use the drive for storage and everything should be accessible right away.

If I buy an encrypted SSD, can I format it in ubuntu and turn it into a regular hard drive?

Beni Bogosel
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  • @user68186: I was talking about ssd's which come with security enabled by default (the ssd prompts to set a password at first usage). Will those work directly in ubuntu? Can they be formatted so that the password is not needed? – Beni Bogosel Jan 22 '22 at 22:09
  • You may want to add this clarification in your question. – user68186 Jan 22 '22 at 22:15
  • Hardware encryption can be turned off in SSDs using the commandline tool [`hdparm`](http://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man8/hdparm.8.html#ATA_Security_Feature_Set). I don't know which SSD prompts to set a password at first usage. Also see [this question](https://askubuntu.com/questions/1118346/how-do-i-setup-a-self-encrypting-opal-2-0-ssd) – user68186 Jan 22 '22 at 22:43
  • Also see [this question regarding samsung encrypted T5/T7 SSDs](https://askubuntu.com/questions/1204208/samsung-ssd-t5-compatibily-with-ubuntu). Even though they are hardware encrypted, the encryption/decryption software that comes with it does not have a Linux version. – user68186 Jan 22 '22 at 22:52

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The encryption you are talking about is a hardware feature of the SSD where there is an included encryption module. Using a drive with this feature has no impact on your ability to install Ubuntu on the SSD, with or without encryption.

Here is an example of how one manufacturer (Crucial) implements hardware encryption on their SSDs: The Benefits of a Self-encrypting Drive.

Nmath
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  • Thank you for this answer. Maybe my question was not clear enough. I do not want to install Ubuntu, but I do not want to have difficulties using the ssd between multiple devices (possibly with different os). If I understand correctly, hardware encryption does not affect usabilty. The ssd will behave like a regular hard drive when I plug it in. – Beni Bogosel Jan 22 '22 at 22:05
  • It won't behave any differently than any other drive. I think you are "missing the forest for the trees": what OS you intend to use is not relevant to purchasing a hard drive. Anything that applies to Ubuntu when choosing a hard drive would also apply to any other operating systems. You are asking details about *hardware features* that would apply no matter what OS you are using. – Nmath Jan 23 '22 at 00:44
  • The only potential predisposition to a hard drive being "easier" to use on Windows is that *sometimes* hard drives are preformatted with NTFS. An Ubuntu system install is going to involve reformatting or repartitioning anyway so this is a non-issue. But this doesn't have anything to do with hardware encryption either. – Nmath Jan 23 '22 at 00:48