Appendix D: Glossary

Critical Data Block
    aka CDB
    A block of data holding data vital to the correct mounting and use of an encrypted partition (volume). Among other things, a volume's CDB contains the master key used for encrypting/decrypting data as it is written/read from a the volume. CDBs are encrypted. A full description of what FreeOTFE stores in its CDBs can be found in the Technical Details section.

LES file
    Linux Encryption Settings file; a text file in which encryption settings for Linux volumes are held. Created by using the "Load..."/"Save..." buttons on the password entry dialog when mounting Linux volumes.

OTFE
    Acronym: On The Fly Encryption
    Any of a number of encryption systems where data is stored on disk in encrypted format. When it is read in from disk, it is transparently decrypted "on the fly" before user applications receive it. In a similar manner, when applications, etc write data back to the disk, it is automatically encrypted before being written.