Can anyone help me to put password protection on the external hard drive I use to Time Machine backup my iMac internal hard drive? I use Snow Leopard 10.6
Who is the drive manufactured by?
It's a Western Digital My Passport for Mac.
When you say encryption, you mean through FileVault right? If so, I found that to be very difficult to get my files back out of in a previous experience.
I think that was FileVault 1. Starting with Lion (10.7) Mac OS X uses FileVault 2, which is whole disk encryption.
Based on complaints seen in these forums, I would say FileVault 2's only complaint has been when people forget their password/encryption key (it seems an encrypted disk does prevent anyone without the password from accessing the data, including the real owner). Otherwise it does not seem to be causing any serious issues. Your Mileage may vary and objects are closer than they appear in your side view mirror (standard disclaimer). Of course this is all academic while you are using Snow Leopard (10.6).
There are other whole disk encryption packages available, such as PGP Whole Disk Encryption, HOWEVER, I would not advise it for your Mac OS X boot disk, as it has been known to be a problem when you try to install operating system updates or upgrade to a new version. NOTE: I have not seen PGP Whole Disk Encryption discussed much, ever since FileVault 2 came along.
Thanks for the tips Bob! I'll look into the Lion 10.7 and the FileVault 2.
Check to make sure your applications are compatible. PowerPC applications are no longer supported after 10.6.
How do I password protect the external hard drive used for Time Machine backup
