It looks like individual files can be protected with a password or passcode. However, I wanted to know if there's a way to protect an entire folder with a password or passcode. Thus, one would not be able to access any files within that folder without the password (or passcode). Is that possible?
iMac, Mac OS X (10.7.4), 24-inch, early 2009
Not in a really simple sense. Solutions involve encrypting the folder, then deleting the originals. Neil notes making an encrypted .dmg which is kind of along these lines. I don't really like encrypted .dmg because it is too many eggs in one basket. If a small disk error occurs, corrupting the file, then the whole lost is lost.
Backups solve that problem... 😉
If a small disk error occurs, corrupting the file, then the whole lost is lost.
How is that different for any other encryption method?
Backups? Not really. If a file becomes corrupt and it isn't serious enough for the OS to pick it up in the course of normal activities then you can copy a bad file over a good one and lose it. Well, if you have infinite storage space and can just archive all copies then I guess backups will work, but most people don't have that.
There is such a thing as incremental backups on both TM and clones likes CCC which only copy over changes. Also, both TM and clones allow you to archive - not indefinitely - but extending far enough back in time to be fairly secure that you can recover a good copy on the event of a corruption.
Of course, no matter how many backups you have nor how careful you are there is always the logical possibility that things will go wrong. I think the chances of that are small if you have a good backup system in place and if you regularly schedule booting into your backups to test them as everyone should.
Still, Armageddon could strike at any time and you're right, in that case you could probably lose your data for good...
We can't all afford huge drives. I can only afford one new drive every few years and my 120 GB internal gets backed up to a 120 GB external. No room for archiving past backups.
Well, that's a separate issue really. However you do it, encrypt or no encrypt, you can lose your data from file degradation over time. Keeping adequate backups is part of sensible data management.
Besides, these days drives are pretty cheap. You can even get a USB flash drive with about 16GB on it for little more than $10; last 500GB drive I bought was only $50, so I'm not really sure cost is a great argument unless your data is worth less than that to you.
Is it possible to password or passcode protect a folder ?
