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Date:      Sun, 3 Dec 2006 20:22:03 +0000
From:      "Alex Bramley" <a.bramley@gmail.com>
To:        "Pawel Jakub Dawidek" <pjd@freebsd.org>
Cc:        freebsd-geom@freebsd.org
Subject:   Re: Resurrecting a GELI volume
Message-ID:  <8cffb8c80612031222h180cde0ch790707802ada44a1@mail.gmail.com>
In-Reply-To: <20061203195004.GA3183@garage.freebsd.pl>
References:  <8cffb8c80612031132s2cdd69d6ia812e3f4e017f69e@mail.gmail.com> <20061203195004.GA3183@garage.freebsd.pl>

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On 12/3/06, Pawel Jakub Dawidek <pjd@freebsd.org> wrote:
> On Sun, Dec 03, 2006 at 07:32:29PM +0000, Alex Bramley wrote:
> > Hi,
> >
> > First, please CC me in any replies to the list, as I am (temporarily)
> > off list due to moving jobs.
> >
> > I accidentally overwrote the metadata of a GELI volume by using geli
> > init on the wrong device node (never try to do sysadmin tasks when
> > hungover). I have the correct key and passphrase, and I would like to
> > know whether it is possible to regain access to my lost data. I have
> > already tried running init again on the volume with the correct key
> > and passphrase, but (somewhat unsurprisingly) to no avail. Any
> > assistance would be much appreciated.
>
> Passphrase is only used to encrypt the master key, which is stored in
> metadata. That means you overwrote the master key and I'm afraid your
> data is lost if you haven't backed the master key up before (with 'geli
> backup').

I don't suppose you could put some kind of check in to make this kind
of slip more difficult to achieve in future? I can't see many times
where you'd want to re-init an already encrypted volume. Hopefully it
won't be too difficult to taste the volume for already existing
metadata and ask for confirmation if it exists...

Many Thanks,
Alex



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