How can I tell if my Time Machine backups are encrypted?

Question

Level 1

1 points

How can I tell if my Time Machine backups are encrypted?

Hi - I would really appreciate it if someone could help me find out if my Time Machine backps are actually encrypted.

I know that there is an 'encryption' option when choosing a disc for Time Machine to backup to, but the problem is I cannot remember whether or not I actually ticked it (as it was a couple of years ago).

Other info that might be helpful:

- The disk I use Time Machine to backup to is actually a Apple Time Capsule

- I do have FileVault2 enabled on my mac

- I have never encrypted the Time Capsule disc itself (via Disk Utility or anything similar)

- One possible clue might be: When I go into Time Machine preferences, and click on 'Select Disk...' (as if to choose another disk to back up to), and select the disc that Time Machine currently backs up to (i.e. the Time Capsule disc), it does show an 'Encrypt backups' checkbox at the bottom of the window... however this checkbox is unchecked and also greyed out.

Thanks in advance

a_quinn

Mac OS X (10.7.2)

Posted on Jun 8, 2013 12:51 PM

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Answer 1

Markus R

Level 1

4 points

Jun 13, 2017 7:26 PM in response to a_quinn

For Mac OS Sierra, go to "About this Mac", click on "system report", and then "storage" under hardware. Click on the volume name you're interested in and it will tell you if it's encrypted.

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Answer 2

Pondini

Level 8

38,863 points

Jun 8, 2013 2:04 PM in response to a_quinn

a_quinn wrote:

. . .

- I have never encrypted the Time Capsule disc itself (via Disk Utility or anything similar)

That cannot be done (short of physically removing the drive, which voids the warranty).

- One possible clue might be: When I go into Time Machine preferences, and click on 'Select Disk...' (as if to choose another disk to back up to), and select the disc that Time Machine currently backs up to (i.e. the Time Capsule disc), it does show an 'Encrypt backups' checkbox at the bottom of the window... however this checkbox is unchecked and also greyed out.

Correct. That option is not available for network backups on Lion or earlier. It was added in Mountain Lion (10.8).

Time Machine doesn't back up to a network drive (like the TC's HD) directly, as it does to a local volume (disk/partition); instead it creates a sparse bundle disk image on the volume and backs up to that. The disk image is what's encrypted (or not).

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Answer 3

a_quinn Author

Level 1

1 points

Jun 8, 2013 2:32 PM in response to Pondini

Thanks Pondini for your swift and very helpful response.

I presume therefore that:

- Because I originally created this Time Machine Backup (to the Time Capsule) back in my 'OS X Lion' days, that means that my backups now (and moving forward) will continue to be un-encrypted (assuming I don't make any changes to TIme Machine's preferences etc)

- The only way to encyrpt my backups now, moving forward, is to remove this Time Capsule disc (from Time Machine Preferences), and start all over again ensuring that I check the checkbox next to 'Encrypt Backup' when selecting the Time Capsule's disc to backup to.

- There is no easy way to encrypt my historic backups (that Time Machine has accumulated for the last two years or so) whilst still making them usable (i.e. browsable within the Time Machine application so as to be able to restore an individual file)

...if my assumptions are correct, i think i'm just going to delete all my historic Time Machine backups (because they are unencrypted), and start all over again whilst checking the 'encrypt backups' option.

Many thanks in advance again...

a_quinn

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Answer 4

Pondini

Level 8

38,863 points

Jun 8, 2013 2:53 PM in response to a_quinn

a_quinn wrote:

. . .

- Because I originally created this Time Machine Backup (to the Time Capsule) back in my 'OS X Lion' days,

I wondered; you posted in the Mountain Lion forum, but your profile still says Lion.

that means that my backups now (and moving forward) will continue to be un-encrypted

Correct (as of now, anyway). You cannot encrypt existing network backups. I doubt that will be available in the future, and would take forever.

- The only way to encyrpt my backups now, moving forward, is to remove this Time Capsule disc (from Time Machine Preferences), and start all over again ensuring that I check the checkbox next to 'Encrypt Backup' when selecting the Time Capsule's disc to backup to.

Well, in theory it's possible, but would take forever, squared. 😝

You could archive the TC's contents to a USB drive connected to it, per #Q6 in Using Time Machine with a Time Capsule).

Then delete the original, start a backup with encryption, and as soon as the encrypted sparse bundle is created, cancel the backup.

Mount the sparse bundle, open the disk image, and delete the Backups.backupdb folder inside it.

Connect the USB drive to your Mac, mount that sparse bundle, open its disk image, and copy the Backups.backupdb folder to the one on the TC.

Depending on how large the sparse bundle is, that could easily take a couple of days, at least, even connected via Ethernet.

Just for testing one day, I encrypted a very small set of existing test backups on a F/W 800 drive - 6 dated backups using a whole 12 GB. Took an hour.

An alternative would be, just do the "archive" and keep the USB drive "on the shelf" for a while. You can always connect it to your Mac and access those backups via the Browse Other Backup Disks option.

Trying to keep a couple of years worth of backups usually isn't a good idea. It's a very complex structure, so the odds of damage increase, it takes much longer to populate the TM browser, and it works slower and slower, and if you didn't need something for 6 months, are you really going to need it in 2 years?

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