‹ Vault @ Home USB

Encrypting your Vault @ Home USB

Pick the section that matches your computer. In every case, the password you set during encryption is the one that should go in the Password field of the Vault @ Home feature in the app, never on the USB drive itself.

Windows: BitLocker encryption

  1. Insert the Inheritable-provided USB thumb drive.
  2. Open File Explorer, right-click the drive, and select Turn on BitLocker.
  3. Choose Use a password to unlock the drive, enter a strong password, and confirm.
  4. Save the recovery key in the Vault @ Home feature under Password (not on the USB).
  5. Select Encrypt entire drive and start encryption.
  6. Wait for completion (time varies by drive size).
  7. The drive is now encrypted; use the password to access it.

macOS: FileVault encryption

  1. Insert the Inheritable-provided USB thumb drive.
  2. Open Disk Utility (Applications › Utilities).
  3. Select the USB drive in the sidebar, click Erase, and choose APFS (Encrypted).
  4. Set a strong password and hint, then click Erase.
  5. Save the recovery key in the Vault @ Home feature under Password (not on the USB).
  6. The drive will reformat and encrypt.
  7. After completion, the drive is encrypted; enter the password to access it.
  8. To decrypt or manage it later, use Disk Utility.

Linux: LUKS encryption

  1. Insert the Inheritable-provided USB thumb drive.
  2. Open a terminal and identify the drive with lsblk (e.g. /dev/sdb; do not use /dev/sda).
  3. Unmount the drive if needed.
  4. Initialise LUKS: sudo cryptsetup luksFormat /dev/sdb (confirm and set a strong passphrase twice).
  5. Save the recovery key in the Vault @ Home feature under Password (not on the USB).
  6. Open the container: sudo cryptsetup luksOpen /dev/sdb encrypted_usb.
  7. Create a filesystem: sudo mkfs.ext4 /dev/mapper/encrypted_usb.
  8. Mount it: sudo mkdir /mnt/usb && sudo mount /dev/mapper/encrypted_usb /mnt/usb.
  9. Add files, then unmount (sudo umount /mnt/usb) and close (sudo cryptsetup luksClose encrypted_usb).
  10. Access then requires the passphrase.