[NTLUG:Discuss] Safeboot

[terry]

Anyone know about "safeboot"?  And particularly what can or can not be
done about a lost Linux install due to installation of "safeboot"? (I
wonder if one could dd it to another HD or something like that?... But
is there an easier way?)
Here is IM with my friend Fred:
7:53 AM well, the IT guys have hosed my dual boot on the laptop
7:54 AM they've encrypted my hard drive
  http://www.safeboot.com/products/
7:55 AM me: You can fix it.
7:56 AM fred: i thought i could by booting from cd, but i can't mount the drive
 me: You can no longer boot from a CD?
7:57 AM fred: i can, but can't mount the HDD
 me: Hummm.... THat's interesting.
  Wonder why...
7:58 AM fred: i'm sure it has to do with the encryption routine
  it sees the drives, just won't allow me to mount either
 me: You have several partitions, at least 3 or 4, right? It won't
mount any of them?
 fred: right
7:59 AM me: That's interesting.
   fred: the agency has forced us to use safeboot, due to the rash of
laptop thefts and gov't data that's been compromised
 fred: so, once this is installed, if someone gets the device, all
they can do is wipe it clean and start over
8:01 AM me: Were you using your Ubuntu install pretty often?
 fred: every now and then
 me: Do they realize that they've rendered a good portion of your HDD unusable?
  i'm sure they wouldn't care about that, since it was an unauthorized
install anyway
8:06 AM me: IF you cannot boot form a CD, how will you re-install?
  Oh, you CAN boot from CD, but cannot mount HDD.
8:07 AM SO. If you cannot mount HDD, how can you install anything?
  If you truly can not mount the HDD, it would be impossible to
re-install. Right?
8:08 AM As little as you use it, I suppose you could just use liveCD.
8:09 AM instead of HD install.
 fred: right
 me: Knoppix
  But, that's pretty bad, not being able to utilize a perfectly good
linux install that's already on there.