you could use Disk Utility to encrypt removable drives to prevent other people from accessing your data , but that requires you to navigate Disk Utility ’s many option , menus , and buttons . In Mountain Lion , the process is much easier , and in this hebdomad ’s video , I show you how to do it . I also show you how to cipher your Time Machine patronage drives .
Download Macworld Video # 200
• Format: MPEG-4/H.264
• Resolution : 480 x 272 ( iPhone & iPod compatible )
• Size: 4.3MB
• Length: 2 minutes, 25 seconds
Show Notes
older contributor Kirk McElhearn wrap up this topic andexplained how to encrypt drives using Terminalin a Mac OS X Hints clause .
Or just indicate your favorite podcast - savvy RSS reader to : the video feed .
Show transcript
( Note : An assumption made in the video , but not mentioned , is that the drive you want to inscribe is formatted as a Mac drive with a GUID Partition Table . If your drive is not properly format , follow Steps 1 through 10 under “ Erase and reformat the storage twist ” inthis Apple support clause — ignore the rest of that section , and ignore the rest of the article , as they do n’t apply here . )
OS X has long let you habituate Disk Utility to encrypt obliterable drives to prevent other masses from accessing your data . But in Mountain Lion , the process is much easy . With the drive connected to your Mac and mounted in the Finder , in good order - click or Control - select the drive — either on the desktop or in a Finder - window sidebar — and pick out Encrypt . ( The command include the name of the selected driveway ; in this example , Encrypt SanDisk 2 GB . ) Do n’t vex , any datum on the drive is preserved .
You ’re prompted to provide a password that you ’ll use to reach the drive once it ’s been encrypt . Type the desired word double , then provide a hint in case you have trouble remembering the word . A warning here : If you forget the password , you wo n’t be able-bodied to get at the driving — there ’s no “ master password ” for encrypted drives as there is for OS X drug user accounts . Click Encrypt Disk .
The encoding process is slow . For illustration , on a 2 GB ovolo drive , it exact roughly three minutes for me ; on a 1 TB arduous parkway , it can take an 60 minutes or more . And unfortunately , there ’s no advancement bar indicating the condition of the encoding . If your drive has an activity light , the light will stop blink when the encryption unconscious process is unadulterated . you could use the Finder ’s Get Info command to reassert that your drive is write in code .
Once a drive is encrypted , whenever you connect it to a Mac guide Lion or after , you ’ll postulate to ply the drive ’s password to get to the drive ’s contents . ( you may economize the password in your business relationship ’s keychain so you do n’t have to enter the password on your own calculator in the hereafter . )
If you ever require to hit encryption , so the drive is accessible by anyone , just right - flick or Control - click the driving force and prefer Decrypt . Again , the process takes a while , so you ’ll need to be patient .
Here ’s a incentive tip : you could also easy encrypt your Time Machine support drives . To do so , relate a backup drive and reach the Time Machine dose of System Preferences . Click Select Disk , choose the reliever drive , and then check the loge to Encrypt Backups . sink in Use Disk , and OS X will cypher the drive and prepare it for function by Time Machine . Again , any exist backup man data is preserved .
As with other encrypted drives , whenever you connect your inscribe Time Machine drive , you ’ll need to provide its password to mount it ; once you do , Time Machine will use it for fill-in like any other drive .
update 9/29/12 , 6 pm , to add note about the GUID - partition - single-valued function requirement .
