Carlton Chin

Q: Running FileVault on an External Hard Drive

I am currently running Mac OSX 10.8.5. I want to run FileVault on an external 7200RPM hard drive inside a Macally enclosure conneced to my iMac via FW800.

 

1. Is it possible to run FileVault on an external hard drive?

 

2. If so, how long would initial take to setup a 1TB or 3TB drive?

 

3. Can the password be different front the Admin User Account?

 

4. What happens if I want to use this eternal drive on a another Mac?

 

5. Are there other "decent" alternatives to FileVault?

iMac, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.5), null

Posted on Jan 20, 2015 10:01 PM

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Q: Running FileVault on an External Hard Drive

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  • by Dr.Mac.,

    Dr.Mac. Dr.Mac. Jan 21, 2015 1:22 PM in response to Carlton Chin
    Level 3 (616 points)
    Jan 21, 2015 1:22 PM in response to Carlton Chin

    Use the following steps  to encrypt (and decrypt) external disks from the Finder.

    1. Open a new Finder window and select the external drive you would like to encrypt from the panel on the left, under Devices.
    2. Right-click (or two-finger click, or control-click) on this disk in order to bring up a contextual menu, and then select Encrypt "External Drive Name"...
    3. When prompted to create an encryption password use a strong password and enter it twice, along with a password hint, and click Encrypt Disk.  The password be different front the Admin User Account.

    Result: The external disk will begin to encrypt, however, there is no progress bar to show you the process of the encryption, which could take  several hours for large disks. Once encrypted, when you next plug your external drive in, you will be prompted to enter the password you created earlier and click Unlock in order to unlock the disk.

  • by paulvee,

    paulvee paulvee Jun 28, 2015 2:36 PM in response to Dr.Mac.
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 28, 2015 2:36 PM in response to Dr.Mac.

    There is no status bar, true, but you can see if the encryption process is still running by left-clicking - or control-clicking - again on the disk in question and, if it's still in process, it'll say "encrypting xxxx"

  • by leroydouglas,

    leroydouglas leroydouglas Jun 23, 2016 1:06 PM in response to Carlton Chin
    Level 7 (22,866 points)
    Notebooks
    Jun 23, 2016 1:06 PM in response to Carlton Chin