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

Question

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

Turned on FileVault on my 27" Retina iMac with about 1TB of data to encrypt. The progress bar has been moving along, just very slowly, currently at >24h of running, still showing "More than one day remaining." Is this normal behavior? Is there any limit to how long I should try and let it run before troubleshooting?

Thank you!

iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2014), macOS Sierra (10.12.3)

Posted on Mar 10, 2017 9:39 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Jonathan Terry1 Author

Level 1

13 points

Mar 11, 2017 9:36 AM in response to Jonathan Terry1

Thanks, Jameson! On another thread, I did find the following useful terminal command:

1) Open terminal

2) input sudo fdesetup status

3) Details about encryption status including a percentage will show

I found this to be much more helpful than the visual "More than a day remaining" on the OS X graphical display.

Hope this helps others with this issue!

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Answer 2

Teddy_B

Community Specialist

Mar 11, 2017 9:34 AM in response to Jonathan Terry1

Hello Jonathan Terry1,

Thanks for using the Apple Support Communities.

I see that you just enabled FileVault, and you're wondering if the time remaining estimate you're receiving is normal.

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. Although encryption can take a long time, depending on the amount of data stored on your computer, you can continue to use your computer as you normally do.

macOS Sierra: Encrypt the contents of your Mac with FileVault

Have an amazing day!

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Answer 3

MarkWilx

Level 1

35 points

Nov 16, 2017 2:21 PM in response to Jonathan Terry1

Jonathan:

I've configured several MacBook Air laptops with both 128 and 256 GB SSD (Solid State Drives). Fresh out of the box, these have taken less than an hour to fully encrypt the whole drive. Fresh out of the box, the Mac OS and all of its added applications are less than 15 GB in size.

I'm presently trying to encrypt a new iMac with a 1 TB hybrid drive. Again, it is new out-of-the-box with < 15 GB of used disk space. So far it has taken more than 24 hours. Other behaviors, which I'm seeking support to resolve, lead me to believe there is something wrong with the particular machine.

Mark

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