You can also simply have LUKS with a detached header - I know some people that have their header and boot partitions exclusively on a USB, so that it's required to be in possession of the USB key to unlock and boot your computer.
> To be fair, some tools do support support completely-random-looking disk layouts, but in most
cases, they either:
> 1. Are key-based (e.g., require a 128-bit or 256-bit key) rather than password based, in which
case, the key must stored elsewhere. (Where do you store the key?)
> 2. Ask the user to store a (non-random-looking) disk-encryption header elsewhere (i.e., “detached
header mode”). (Where do you store the header?)
> 1. Are key-based (e.g., require a 128-bit or 256-bit key) rather than password based, in which case, the key must stored elsewhere. (Where do you store the key?)
Is there a reason why this is notably different? Why can't the password be hashed to get the fixed length key?
Yes, it's a pretty standard approach. I can't even recall anything that uses passwords directly these days. Mostly due to world relying mainly on aes where you have to derive the key.
