Does Tahoe behave differently depending on the Mac’s chip?
I have a MacBook Air with an M2 chip and a MacBook Pro with an M4 chip. It’s a minor detail, but when signing in, the MacBook Air displays a white progress bar, whereas the M4 does not.
So I’m just wondering whether the OS behaves differently depending on the architecture or chip generation.
There should be no difference. I do not experience any differences between my 16" M1 Pro MBP and my 16" M4 Pro MBP.
I suspect that the Mac that shows the progress bar at login has FileVault turned on, and the other does not. FileVault was enabled by default with the Tahoe upgrade, but if can be turned off. All Macs that can run Tahoe have the internal storage encrypted. FileVault adds security by incorporating your login password into the cryptographic key (without that, someone gaining physical access to your Mac can reset the password and access your data).
Check both Macs in System Settings > Privacy & Security > FileVault (near the bottom):
More info: Protect data on your Mac with FileVault - Apple Support
There should be no difference. I do not experience any differences between my 16" M1 Pro MBP and my 16" M4 Pro MBP.
I suspect that the Mac that shows the progress bar at login has FileVault turned on, and the other does not. FileVault was enabled by default with the Tahoe upgrade, but if can be turned off. All Macs that can run Tahoe have the internal storage encrypted. FileVault adds security by incorporating your login password into the cryptographic key (without that, someone gaining physical access to your Mac can reset the password and access your data).
Check both Macs in System Settings > Privacy & Security > FileVault (near the bottom):
More info: Protect data on your Mac with FileVault - Apple Support
Yes, FileVault was ON. I turned it off.
Thanks
macOS operates the similarly with both, save for hardware differences. MacBook Pro with M4 is faster and tends to be higher-spec and with better cooling, among other potential hardware differences, for instance.
More commonly arising in these cases though, there can be differences among what is installed, as creating and maintaining mostly-identical configurations is an ongoing effort.
Perhaps one has FileVault enabled and the other doesn’t. There are differences in the login which may be show a progress bar in one and not the other.
The difference there is mainly the speed differences between the chips, but not the way macOS is suppose to operate. So no. Your M2 and M4 may have different settings enabled.
No. It does not.
If stolen by a competent thief your password could probably be broken in seconds using dedicated rigs giving free access to all your data.
Keeping FileVault on delays the process by a factor between 30,000x and 100,000x
Waiting for a progress bar should be no big deal.
Just to elaborate.
If a thief steals your unencrypted MBA they can simply boot it into Recovery Mode and have access to all your data or they could plug it via USB-C into another Mac, boot into Share Disk Mode and copy all your drive's contents in minutes.
With FileVault enabled you are more or less bulletproof.
Alfonso wrote:
Yes, FileVault was ON. I turned it off.
I would recommend the opposite – turn FileVault ON for both Macs. While a (weak) argument could be made for leaving it off with a desktop Mac that is otherwise in a secure environment, laptops are portable and a common theft target. Apple offers several options to mitigate the effects of such a threat, FileVault is one of them.
In early days, there was some processor overhead for using FileVault. With modern Macs, that's all handled by dedicated hardware and encryption is already done. FileVault just changes the key so no one but you can access the data on your Mac.
Alfonso wrote:
Yes, FileVault was ON. I turned it off.
That “off” choice also makes the inevitable recycling and equipment disposals more perilous of course, when the Mac still contains data, but might not be fully working sufficiently to erase the data contained.
And on Macs with T2 or Apple silicon, internal storage encryption is always active and cannot be disabled, only the use of a robust encryption key can be thwarted.
The reason I have FileVault off began when occasionally I needed to assist colleagues at school with their Macs. When FileVault was enabled, we were unable to retrieve or view their files when booting from a USB drive. When the files are not encrypted they can be accessed or viewed. But I understand that passwords and emails etc. can be accessed by a malicious player, so I would physically destroy a drive if I can't format it.
The reason I have FileVault off began when occasionally I needed to assist colleagues at school with their Macs. When FileVault was enabled, we were unable to retrieve or view their files when booting from a USB drive. When the files are not encrypted they can be accessed or viewed. But I understand that passwords and emails etc. can be accessed by a malicious player, so I would physically destroy a drive if I can't format it.
Alfonso wrote:
The reason I have FileVault off began when occasionally I needed to assist colleagues at school with their Macs. When FileVault was enabled, we were unable to retrieve or view their files when booting from a USB drive. When the files are not encrypted they can be accessed or viewed. But I understand that passwords and emails etc. can be accessed by a malicious player, so I would physically destroy a drive if I can't format it.
Just a couple of notes on that. On Apple Silicon (M-series) Macs, the internal storage is always encrypted. FileVault incorporates the login password into the cryptographic key, but even with FileVault off the data are still encrypted. Also, with modern Macs (except the Mac Pro) the internal storage is right on the logic board – if you cannot format/erase the Mac, then you'd need to physically destroy the Mac itself, or at least the logic board.
Thanks for sharing those technical details. M-series Macs are still relatively new to me, so I haven’t had to deal with a failure yet. So... I’m not sure what to expect if I’m ever asked to help recover files from one.
I guess, one good takeaway is that I no longer have to worry as much about Macs being recycled, since the data on them is encrypted anyway. Right?
Alfonso wrote:
The reason I have FileVault off began when occasionally I needed to assist colleagues at school with their Macs. When FileVault was enabled, we were unable to retrieve or view their files when booting from a USB drive. When the files are not encrypted they can be accessed or viewed. But I understand that passwords and emails etc. can be accessed by a malicious player, so I would physically destroy a drive if I can't format it.
Encryption is always enabled on T2 and later and Apple silicon.
Booting from external USB requires permissive startup settings.
Usual for loaning access would be to create a user for this person, and access the USB device from there.
Guest access into the Mac is more permissive with FileVault off, and more restrictive with FileVault on.
Alternatives for USB file sharing include using AirDrop, sftp, or a File Share.
Or creating a bootable device and booting the colleague's Mac from that, or Recovery.
Physically destroying the storage here is tantamount to destroying the Mac itself.
I'd suggest enabling FileVault, and finding a different way to occasionally support the colleagues.
Does macOS behave differently on M2 and M4 Mac chips?
