Encrypt a disk with Disk Utility (Palimpsest using LUKS)

This is a simple graphical way to create an encrypted disk that will work on any Ubuntu installation with the cryptsetup package installed. You will need a drive that can be wiped. For this example we will use a USB key.

Open Disk Utility (Palimpsest) by going to:

System > Administration > Disk Utility

Once in Disk utility identify your drive, if you have not plugged it in, do that now. Find the partition (sub-drive), unmount it using the unmount button at the top*, and delete it so that it says "free space". Make sure you are doing this on the intended drive.

Now click on the "Free Space" and create an ext3 partition. You want to check "Encrypt underlaying partition." and provide a password when requested.

That's it, you now have an encrypted disk.

*In Ubuntu 9.10 unmounting from palimpsest does not always work. I recommend using "Safely remove device" from Nautilus (the file browser) before opening the disk utility.