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FileVault Encryption

How long should this whole process take for about 1TB of data?


I'm new here so please bear with me if I'm not asking this correctly. This question was asked previously. Answer "FileVault can take some time to encrypt your disk, especially if you have 1TB of data. It's completely normal for this process to take more than one day to complete. "


But when I turned on FileVault, it only took minutes to encrypt 100 GB. Is this correct? I'm using an iMac (24-inch, M1, 2021, 12.4 Monterey)


Posted on Jul 16, 2022 1:41 PM

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Posted on Jul 16, 2022 4:08 PM

Actually Filevault works differently on the 2018+ Macs which have the T2 security chip or the M1 CPU. With these Macs, the data on the internal SSD is always hardware encrypted. Turning on Filevault for these 2018+ Macs just adds a password to the mix which only takes seconds to do. Here is an Apple article with the details (very vague details as usual with Apple):

Encrypt Mac data with FileVault - Apple Support


For older Macs, Filevault encrypts the whole volume and not just the parts which hold the data. The speed depends on the size of the drive, the health of the drive, the type of drive (HD or SSD), and how much the drive is being used. Plus with laptops the encryption process only occurs while the Mac is running on a power adapter.



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Question marked as Best reply

Jul 16, 2022 4:08 PM in response to 6i2n4k

Actually Filevault works differently on the 2018+ Macs which have the T2 security chip or the M1 CPU. With these Macs, the data on the internal SSD is always hardware encrypted. Turning on Filevault for these 2018+ Macs just adds a password to the mix which only takes seconds to do. Here is an Apple article with the details (very vague details as usual with Apple):

Encrypt Mac data with FileVault - Apple Support


For older Macs, Filevault encrypts the whole volume and not just the parts which hold the data. The speed depends on the size of the drive, the health of the drive, the type of drive (HD or SSD), and how much the drive is being used. Plus with laptops the encryption process only occurs while the Mac is running on a power adapter.



FileVault Encryption

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