Many thanks for all the feedbacks to my question. In the first instance aes-loop is the way to go, but once the computer is on and password has been applied then aes-loop has done its job -this is a very crude if perhaps incorrect assumption. Now what measures can be taken to protect your data? for example (not a very good one as this is the other exterme) but you run a mail server, i suppose EncFS might a step in the right direction. The circle I am trying to complete is encryption on a labtop against say theft or trusted parties abuseing that trust,(loop-aes) and finally trying to think of a way to protect data once the os is running. Rodger -- Der GMX SmartSurfer hilft bis zu 70% Ihrer Onlinekosten zu sparen! Ideal für Modem und ISDN: http://www.gmx.net/de/go/smartsurfer - Linux-crypto: cryptography in and on the Linux system Archive: http://mail.nl.linux.org/linux-crypto/