Can I be sure that a partiton encryption completed?

Question

Can I be sure that a partiton encryption completed?

I encrypted a non-boot partition on an internal SSD, using the standard OS encryption for OS 10.13 (High Sierra) on a 2014 Macbook Pro. But when I returned to the computer, it had restarted. The partition appears to have been encrypted successfully, but I am uneasy that the encryption might not have completed. Still, afterwards, I did an encryption erase of the partition, then repartitioned the drive into one partition and encryption-erased that again. This is in preparation for sending the ssd back to China, so I am ... concerned. The drive fails due to heat issues, so I had to keep everything cold during these processes.

The other partitions on the drive encrypted without incident, and FileVault seems to have completed successfully, so I am not worried about the other partitions.

Yes, I know this is a bit complicated!

Would MacOS have "known" if the encryption was incomplete, the way it keeps track with a filevault encryption?

Thanks!

Posted on Mar 9, 2022 6:31 PM

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Answer 1

tjk

Level 9

51,148 points

Mar 9, 2022 7:18 PM in response to MidAtlantian2014

Hi,

You can keep track of progress in the Terminal app, as explained here: https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/60683/how-to-view-progress-when-encrypting-a-disk

I don't remember if this was true in HS, but in Catalina and later you can also see encrypted partitions in Disk Utility and using Get Info. I don't know what it would show if the encryption was in progress.

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Answer 2

Mar 9, 2022 9:25 PM in response to tjk

Hi,

Thanks for your response. The partitions appear to be encrypted, but in one case, I checked the progress using Terminal after 15 minutes and it was 16% completed. When I checked 30 minutes later, it was done - which does not "compute". The encryption of the other partition may have crashed, and I do not know if it really completed, even though it too "acts" as it it were completed, requiring a password when I restart.

I know that FileVault keeps track of its progress, even through restarts, but I do not know if the more garden variety encrypt is that sophisticated.

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Answer 3

Mar 10, 2022 10:29 AM in response to tjk

Hi TJK,

Thanks again! BUT! :-) What terminal command will tell me the encryption status.... and what is "DU"? Then, if I have erased the data, and it was NOT encrypted, is there a way to encrypt a non-boot partition's free space?

Thanks,

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Answer 4

Mar 10, 2022 12:27 PM in response to tjk

TJK,

Yes, sorry! I even used it to track the progress of the encryptions I did to other partitions. It had not occurred to me that that might be more reliable than the OS 10 indicators. I'll again swap this disk back into my Macbook Pro, and ... try again!

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