Now that I have Windows 8 installed on my desktop, I will be installing encrypted Arch Linux and dual booting between the two. I have added more memory to the machine and am reusing the SSD from my original encrypted install. Because I am dual booting and this machine supports UEFI I am electing to reinstall from scratch. The new specs are as follows.
- Intel i7-3770
- Asus Sabertooth Z77
- 2 x Corsair Vengeance 8GB
- EVGA GTX 770 SC
- Corsair HX 850
- Corsair Obsidian 650D
- Western Digital Black 1TB 3.5″ HDD
- Kingston SVP100S2B 512GB SSD
Much of the install will be similar. I will clarify the differences as they come up. The first step in the process is to securely wipe the drive. My preferred tool for this is Darik’s Boot And Nuke. While DBAN does not guarantee SSD data removal, it does implement the US DoD 5220.22-M standard. According to this paper that results in less than a 4.1% chance of recovering any data. But in this case I am using dm-crypt to erase the drive by creating an encrypted container and filling it. This provides the benefit of obscuring the upcoming usage patterns of the drive. Either option is a lengthy process and best run overnight.