Alternative to loop device for encryption?

[DToNAToR]

I want to be able to store several "homes" separately and encrypted for different users, each in a different, password encrypted filesystem image.
Each user will have such file on an unencrypted partition, containing a filesystem mounted only when he logs in with pam_mount.
So far so good, but from what I understand, this image's filesystem cannot be journaled. What are my alternatives then?
Does this really matter, when the real partition holding my user's images is journaled?
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[geki]

No idea if that is an alternative for you:
http://gentoo-portage.com/sys-fs/ecryptfs-utils

ubuntu uses that to encrypt HOME optionally.
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hear hear

[DToNAToR]

Care to point me to a detailed documentation (preferably gentoo oriented) on how to actually use it in my case rather than
mount -t ecryptfs /dir /dir
?
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[Anarcho]

Why should there be a problem with journaling in the encrypted containers?

But what I did is using a LVM partition which contains logical volumes for every user. These volumes follow the naming vg_home_$USER and I mount them using pam_mount on login. Works like a charm especially on my Core i7 Laptop with Intels AES-NI on my Intel Postvile SSD. I have AES 256 Bit encryption and can read up to 240 MB/s from the encrypted drive (without AES-NI I have 120 MB/s).
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[DToNAToR]

Thanks! Did not think of using lvm. Will definitely try.
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[boerKrelis]

I can recommend ecryptfs. It seems like a good fit for your situation, scales nicely, and works much better for incremental backups (backing up a gigabyte blob because the user flipped two bits seems.... inefficient).

[DToNAToR]

I still can't find worthy documentation for ecryptfs.
The one on their site is very partial ...
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