[ale] Encrypted filesystem on netbook

[agrieser at gmail.com (Andrew Grieser)]

Hey all,

I recently got a small laptop that I will be carrying around quite a bit, and would like to encrypt some files (like ssh keys, pgp keys, firefox stored logins, etc) in case it gets lost or stolen.

What is the best way to do this? The Ubuntu alternate cd offers a completely encrypted install, but I've also seen that it offers a "private" folder. Is there a major difference in security between these options?

I would also like to be able to mount the drive (in another computer) and decrypt the data in case the laptop dies and I need to get something off of it.

If anyone has a setup that works well, I'd be interested to hear about it.

Andrew