Of course that's the scenario we're talking about. Having a big volume is about as relevant as a big hard drive. Would you buy a 250GB drive when the 1TB versio

Of course that's the scenario we're talking about. Having a big volume is about as relevant as a big hard drive. Would you buy a 250GB drive when the 1TB version is the same price (or less)? Of course not. Bigger is better. So why would you create a small encrypted volume when you have boatloads of diskspace to spare? And no, that's not how contempt works. IANAL but Wikipedia says this: To prove contempt, the prosecutor or complainant must prove the four elements of contempt: Existence of a lawful order The contemnor's knowledge of the order The contemnor's ability to comply The contemnor's failure to comply There's no way to prove your ability to comply with decrypting a hidden volume for as long as it remains hidden.