Time capsule time machine backup privacy

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Time capsule time machine backup privacy

I thought I would have easily been able to find answers on this. Unfortunately after some searching, feel I still need to post.

I am thinking of buying a time-capsule for use in a home network with multiple macs and pc's. At least 2 mac users will use it for time machine backups.

How is privacy of time machine backups handled? I don't want want my backups browse-able/usable by others. For example are you required to enter a user password to browse or restore from another users time machine backups. We don't really want to go down the full filevault/encryption route we just want some average user privacy.

If there is password protection on time machine backups, can windows users accessing time capsule see time machine backups and bypass such security?

Message was edited by: opodder

Macbook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.2)

Posted on Dec 29, 2009 10:14 AM

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Answer 1

opodder Author

Level 1

9 points

Dec 29, 2009 12:51 PM in response to opodder

I found a partial answer for this in 'Keeping Time Machine backups secure' section of mac help:

"For improved security when backing up to a Time Capsule, the Time Capsule administrator can enable account mode and create individual accounts on the Time Capsule. Each Time Capsule account has its own network volume and password. If you back up to an individual account volume on a Time Capsule, other users can’t access your backups unless they know the password for that account.

NOTE:A Time Capsule set up with individual accounts contains a shared volume. Be sure you select your own individual volume as your backup disk, using the account name and instructions given to you by the Time Capsule administrator. The shared volume is intended only for information that all users can access."

However this does not say whether individual account holders can change their password so access is kept private from the administrator. Is this possible?

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