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Encryption of backup drive with time machine.

Do I need to encrypt a backup drive using time machine if my iMac is using fire vault encryption? It's been over eight hours and the encryption of my new Lacie external 4TB USB drive is taking forever. It was being backed up before I checked the encryption box and I understand that this will erase the older backups. I'm using Catalina 10.15.7 on a late 2015 27 inch iMac

Posted on Oct 4, 2020 6:38 AM

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Posted on Oct 4, 2020 1:28 PM

You only need to encrypt if you want the backup encrypted. I don’t encrypt the backups because I think there is little risk in someone stealing my backup drives from my home.

But, there is no way to stop the process short of formatting the drive.

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Encryption of backup drive with time machine.

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