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I'm interested in a hardware based full disk encryption solution for a laptop. I've never really researched them before, so I'm not sure what to expect. (This is not a shopping list question).

I'm finding a fair amount of related material for encrypted hard drives. For example, an Encrypted SSD that operates independently of the platform (like a Dell laptop) or the operating system (like Windows). That is, the drive displays a UI during the boot sequence and the drive prompts for a password.

I'm not finding integrated offerings from laptop manufacturers like Dell and HP. Or my search skills are performing poorly. For example, my search for encrypted hard drive site:dell.com did not return one laptop model. But I expected to see a search result like Series XXX with Full Disk Encryption.

Question: is it normal or expected that I'm not finding integrated solutions from laptop manufactures? Or is an encrypted drive normally just an upgrade to a laptop, similar to upgrading to a larger drive?

Related: the reason I want an integrated, hardware based solution is I want to multi-boot the laptop with both BSD, Linux and Windows. So I don't want contention among operating systems for control of the boot loader, I want to be able to read other partitions, etc.

Here's a related question, and the fellow asking seems to be having trouble sorting things out, too: Is there anyone using hardware encrypted HDD on their laptops?.

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Assuming I've understood correctly, you're saying you want a laptop that comes with an S.E.D. (Self Encrypting Drive), rather than to buying a normal laptop, and installing an S.E.D.?

You'll probably have to look at laptops intended for the business sector, as that seems to be where these drives are currently marketed at. The only ones I've been able to find are the Toshiba Tecra R940, and Toshiba Tecra R950. They are business laptops. There are also supposed to be some Toshiba Portégé laptops that come with S.E.D.s. Be aware that there seem to be several different versions of the R950, they may not all include an S.E.D., but the R950-04Q is supposed to.

Product page for Toshiba Tecra R950 (R950-04Q)(PT535C-04Q024): http://www.toshiba.ca/productdetailpage.aspx?id=2147493545

Manual for Toshiba Tecra R930/R940/R950: http://support.toshiba.ca/support/isg/manuals/pt535c/R930_R940_R950-EnglishManual.pdf

Sources:

Businesses and institutions of all sizes must meet compliance directives and regulations governing data privacy. Toshiba's 2.5-inch self-encrypting drives (SEDs) provide both advanced hardware encryption and strong access authentication to help IT departments and systems OEMs to cost-effectively deploy strong security
Toshiba of Canada is proud to announce that select Tecra and Portégé laptops will now feature Self Encrypted Hard Drive technology (SEDs) or Solid State Drives (SSDs). Toshiba’s self-encrypting drive is ideal for security sensitive applications. Designed to the Opal SSC specification from the Trusted Computing Group (TCG), the new Toshiba SED enables secure and quick deployment of encryption on business laptops to protect confidential information.
TOSHIBA strongly recommend that you enable encryption functionality
Toshiba Self Encrypting HDD Technology
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  • Sorry it was not clear.... I want hardware based full disk encryption. When the machine boots, I want to be prompted for a password to unlock the drive. I'd really like something that include an OTP, like one time password form a Ubikey.
    – jww
    Commented Oct 5, 2014 at 6:32

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