Hi.
I use Drivecrypt Plus Pack to encrypt my system. This also encrypts the boot sector and is one of the best (if not the best) encryption software packages out.

However, if Ghost is creating an image in dos mode - would it correctly image the drive?  As if you run Ghost in windows it corrupts the boot sector with a DCPP encrypted drive.

Further does it have to be done using sector by sector imaging (raw) and in that case does the image take up the enitre space of the drive being imaged (i.e does a 200gb drive with say only 80gb's of data on it become an 200gb image using this method of imaging?)

The best solution to your issue is to use an encryption tool that has a file-model rather than volume (drive) model -- i.e., a tool that provides encryption control for individual files rather than for a disk or partition as an entity (i.e., "full disk encryption").  The advantages to encrypting and managing individual files rather than an encrypted  disk/partition are significant.  Use the former.  Avoid the latter.  You will sidestep unanticipated complications with PC applications, while at the same time maintaining the confidentiality of your files.

An excellent tool for this purpose is SecretAgent by Information Security Corporation (see http://www.infoseccorp.com/products/secretagent/contents.htm).  It has a solid integration with the Microsoft Office products, and provides for an "AutoEncrypt" feature in which any plain text files (in folders that you choose) are automatically encrypted upon logout.

While the free Windows encryption capabilities or PGP can in principle accomplish the same objective, in practice these tools are simply too cumbersome (in my experience).

I am running into a simliar problem. I use ghost for my system backup as well, it's much easier then manual backups.
I've tried to use both drivecrypt, file level encryption and dcpp disk encryption. Both are usefull in various situations. For example DCPP is a must on a system that has a high level of physical security such as a laptop.  
Unfortunatelly, I have not been able to successfully backup DCPP encrypted disk via ghost regardless of options I've tried. Although drivecrypt.com has Ghost compatiblity listed in their FAQ.

P.S. US based security corporations provide good encryption unless the US government gets involved.  Remember when PGP came out and the fit US government threw about it? Stick with European company such as Secure Star.

Link?

Isaac Sarayiah

I have no personal experience with encryption--but to answer your questions based on what I have read:

If you use 'raw sector by sector', I think you can assume the image size is going to be similar to the size of the HDD--less any compression that you use to store the image.

However, if the encryption (de-cryption) key is being stored only in the boot sector, you can possibly use just the switch to copy the boot sector completely rather than the whole drive sector by sector.

I would sure experiment on a spare drive to be sure it all works okay before I trusted the setup and software on the critical hardware.

If you do the experimenting, it would be informative to have you post back the results of what works and what does not.