gawguy Posted June 28, 2008 Report Share Posted June 28, 2008 I am trying create a large TC Volume. At the moment running v 4.3, but I see nothing in the docs that say 5.1 would be any better. I created Outer volume 28gb. I was looking to create Hidden Vol approx 26gb. The Hidden Volume Creation Wizard only allowed 13gb!! Absolutely absurd! Maybe I shouldn't even create a hidden volume, although I like the sound of "hidden." Here's what their doc says: "When creating a hidden volume, it may be very difficult or even impossible for an inexperienced user to set the size of the hidden volume such that the hidden volume does not overwrite data on the outer volume. Therefore, the Volume Creation Wizard automatically scans the cluster bitmap of the outer volume (before the hidden volume is created within it) and determines the maximum possible size of the hidden volume.** Specification. ** This feature is implemented only in the Windows versions of TrueCrypt. The wizard scans the cluster bitmap to determine the size of the uninterrupted area of free space (if there is any) whose end is aligned with the end of the outer volume. This area accommodates the hidden volume and therefore the size of this area limits the maximum possible size of the hidden volume." Huh!? What does that mean and how do I get around this! (It's always something! I hate computers!) Help! GG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eyebee Posted June 28, 2008 Report Share Posted June 28, 2008 Try defragging your hard drive before creating the volume. Should increase the space available. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gawguy Posted June 28, 2008 Author Report Share Posted June 28, 2008 Try defragging your hard drive before creating the volume. Should increase the space available. Thanks for the response. The hd is 80gb fresh out of the shrink wrap. Defrag says "does not need to be defragged." There was plenty of room for the outer volume. The hidden volume is created "within" it. The issue is why is the program insisting that I leave 12gb of wasted space as outer volume. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlton68 Posted July 1, 2008 Report Share Posted July 1, 2008 You say the drive is brand new? Did you store any data on it, or any data in the outer volume? If possible delete the outer volume. Then defrag the drive (whatever the defrag tool says). Afterwards create that outer volume again and then try agai to create the inner volume. No guarantee. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mongatu Posted July 8, 2008 Report Share Posted July 8, 2008 This response is to the OP: Just a FYI, Truecrypt is up to V. 6.0 now and is much, much improved. A very important new feature is that the volume header that contains the information needed to decrypt the volume is now automatically backed up at the end of the volume when a volume is created. If the first header gets corrupted, TC will automatically use or prompt to use the backup version. There are many other improvements, but this one alone makes it a must upgrade imo, anyway, it's free. Other new features include: better help/prompts from the volume creation wizard for creating volumes, encryption/decryption is at least twice faster on a dual core system taking advantage of multiple CPU cores (not that it was slow before), and it is possible to have an entire second hidden encrypted operating system on your drive that cannot be detected. Very cool program that has just been greatly improved. I suggest you use the latest version. With respect to your issue, just keep reducing the size of the hidden volume you are trying to create until TC says there is enough space for it. TC wants you to allow for a certain amount of room to write to the outer non hidden volume without overwriting any data stored on the hidden volume as a safety precaution for your data on the hidden volume, because even though you can "protect" the hidden volume to prevent that from occurring, there may be times when this may not be advisable, like when a customs agent wants you to open up the non hidden volume and you don't want to give away that a hidden volume exists by protecting it. Also, if after reducing the hidden volume size enough so that TC will go ahead and create it, you find you still want to have a larger hidden volume, then you may have to start over and increase the size of the outer volume first to allow for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mongatu Posted July 13, 2008 Report Share Posted July 13, 2008 Just adding that since my last post and the major new release of TC 6.0, TC has released v. 6.0a, adding a few minor bug fixes. http://www.truecrypt.org/docs/?s=version-history Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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