[[!meta title="Creating and using LUKS encrypted volumes"]]

<h1 id="luks">Introduction to <span class="application">LUKS</span></h1>

<p>The simplest way to carry around the documents that you want to use
with Tails encrypted is to use the [[Persistent
Storage|persistent_storage]].</p>

You can create other encrypted volumes using
<span class="application">LUKS</span> to encrypt, for example, another
USB stick or an external hard disk.
<span class="application">LUKS</span> is the standard for disk
encryption in Linux.

- The *Disks* utility allows you to create encrypted volumes.

- The GNOME desktop allows you to open encrypted volumes.

<h2 id="comparison">Comparison between <span class="application">LUKS</span> and <span class="application">VeraCrypt</span></h2>

You can also open <span class="application">VeraCrypt</span> encrypted
volumes in Tails. <span class="application">VeraCrypt</span> is a disk
encryption tool for Windows, macOS, and Linux. [[See our documentation
about <span class="application">VeraCrypt</span>.|veracrypt]]

<h1 id="creating">Creating an encrypted partition</h1>

Choose **Applications**&nbsp;▸ **Utilities**&nbsp;▸ **Disks** to open the *Disks* utility.

<h2 id="identifying">Identifying your external storage device</h2>

The *Disks* utility lists all the current storage devices on the left side of the screen.

Plug in the external storage device that you want to use.

A new device appears in the list of storage devices. Click on it.

1. Check that the description of the device on the right side of the screen
corresponds to your device: its brand, its size, etc.

<h2 id="formatting">Formatting the device</h2>

Click on the [[!img lib/view-more.png alt="Drive Options" class="symbolic" link="no"]] button in the title bar and choose **Format Disk** to erase all the existing partitions on the device.

In the <span class="guilabel">**Format Disk</span>** dialog:

In the **Format Disk** dialog:

If you want to overwrite all data on the device, choose **Overwrite existing data with zeroes** in the **Erase** menu.

<div class="caution">
<p>Overwriting existing data does not erase all data on flash
memories, such as USB sticks and SSDs (Solid-State Drives).</p>