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Encryption of External Drives

Why does it take so long to encrypt an external hard drive?

After backing up my MBPro using Time Machine I selected to encrypt it not knowing it would take 18 days. It is a Lacie 8TB (Non SSD) 7200 rpm hard drive, using Thunderbolt 3. After 4 days of encrypting the hard drive I called Apple and they told me it would take a loooong time with not time frame.

Before you select encryption for your external hard drive, make sure you understand the extreme length of time it will take.

If anyone has anything to add, that would be great.

MacBook Pro 15", macOS 10.15

Posted on Jan 22, 2020 5:01 PM

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leroydouglas

Community+ 2024

Level 10

189,090 points

Posted on Jan 22, 2020 5:25 PM

MikeyCampbell_1 wrote:

Why does it take so long to encrypt an external hard drive?

After backing up my MBPro using Time Machine I selected to encrypt it not knowing it would take 18 days. It is a Lacie 8TB (Non SSD) 7200 rpm hard drive, using Thunderbolt 3. After 4 days of encrypting the hard drive I called Apple and they told me it would take a loooong time with not time frame.

Before you select encryption for your external hard drive, make sure you understand the extreme length of time it will take.

If anyone has anything to add, that would be great.

"Time Machine...backup disk from unencrypted to encrypted, your existing backups are erased and new encrypted backup sets are created."

Keep your Time Machine backup disk for Mac secure - Apple ...

If you encrypt the empty drive from the get go, you will notice no difference in performance.

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Encryption of External Drives

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