SOLVED Protection for TimeMachine

[denetoet]

Hi helpers,
I use two time machines (Seagate 1 TB, one every day, one once a week). I works fine for already a long time but I realise that anybody (thief?) could just read the contents. Now my questions:

1)Can I just 'simply' protect it with a strong password? Will this password be required after each disconnection?

2) I see that my disks apparently do not support encryption (the checkbox is dimmed). Should I buy new disks or first erase the data on the present ones to enable encryption?

I use MacBookPro with Mojave 10.14.4

Thanks in advance for your answers!

Dirk

 

[Lufbrarunner]

I came across this advice:


Set Encryption Using the Finder for Existing Time Machine Backups
If you already have a drive assigned as a Time Machine backup, Time Machine will not let you encrypt the drive directly. Instead, you'll need to use the Finder to enable FileVault 2 on the selected backup drive.

1. Right-click the drive you're using for Time Machine backups, and select Encrypt “Drive Name” from the pop-up menu.
   
   
2. You'll be asked to provide a password and a password hint. Enter the information, and then click the Encrypt Drive button.
   
   
3. The encryption process can take quite a while; anywhere from an hour to a whole day is not uncommon, depending on the size of the selected backup drive.
   
   
4. Time Machine can continue to use the selected drive while the encryption process is running, just remember that until the encryption process is complete, the data on the backup drive isn't secure.
   

 

[denetoet]

Thanks Lufbrarunner, I'll try that. Dirk

 

[denetoet]

Only....

...right clicking the TimeMachine Drive in Finder does not lead to a pop-up containing 'Encrypt...'. Nor other ways. File-Vault to wants to encrypt 'my disk' i.e. the Macintosh most probably. Dirk

 

[Cory Cooper]

Hello,

Personally, I would stay away from FileVault. It has been known to not accept passwords or become corrupted, thus losing access to your data.

To encrypt your Time Machine disk: OS X: Encrypting Time Machine Backups

Hope that helps,

C

 

[Allen Davis]

Hello,

Personally, I would stay away from FileVault. It has been known to not accept passwords or become corrupted, thus losing access to your data.

To encrypt your Time Machine disk: OS X: Encrypting Time Machine Backups

Hope that helps,

C

Oh, ain't that just great?

I have two clones for each of my machines which I purposely set up with File Vault in order to guard my security a bit better.

Do you have any indications I should look out for, or is this a really rare occurrence that I shouldn't worry about?

 

[Cory Cooper]

Hello,

There really aren't any signs that you would notice, and yes, it is a pretty rare occurrence. Most FileVault failures were a direct result of other hardware issues such as failing hard drives/bad blocks, or simply forgetting the password.

It's not a bad thing to enable as much security as you can these days, but FileVault is just one of those things I normally don't recommend to most folks. There is a slight performance hit with FileVault enabled, as the decrypting/encrypting of files as they are accessed can put undue load on the system. However, modern Macs are fast enough to pretty much negate anything noticeable.

I really wouldn't worry about it, and your data is safer with it enabled.

C

 

[Allen Davis]

Hello,

There really aren't any signs that you would notice, and yes, it is a pretty rare occurrence. Most FileVault failures were a direct result of other hardware issues such as failing hard drives/bad blocks, or simply forgetting the password.

It's not a bad thing to enable as much security as you can these days, but FileVault is just one of those things I normally don't recommend to most folks. There is a slight performance hit with FileVault enabled, as the decrypting/encrypting of files as they are accessed can put undue load on the system. However, modern Macs are fast enough to pretty much negate anything noticeable.

I really wouldn't worry about it, and your data is safer with it enabled.

C

I'm a pretty regular user of TechTool Pro, and keep it up-to-date, and I use Onyx as well for routine maintenance (not quite as religious about it as Honestone is, though, but pretty close!). TTP has saved my bacon more than once in giving me ample warning before a problem with a drive has cropped up.

I've never noticed a performance hit of any kind using FileVault drives, but as you said, modern Macs are a lot more muscular these days. The only complaint I've ever had with FileVault is encrypting a drive that already has data on it. It took two days for a couple of my backup drives to encrypt. But I found that if you simply encrypt an empty drive when you format it, you sidestep that problem altogether. Copying files onto a FileVault-enabled drive that's empty doesn't really take any more time than it would otherwise. Or at least that's been my experience using CarbonCopyCloner.

Thanks for the reply. Issues like this ruffle my feathers when I first hear about them, especially if it concerns something I've been doing. I'll sleep better now!

 

[Cory Cooper]

No worries...I totally understand.

C