How far would you like to go to safeguard your Mac from unauthorised access? If the answer to that question is, as far as it takes, you’d probably be interested in knowing about FileVault – a highly advanced encryption mechanism that allows you to apply an extra layer of security to your Mac HDD as well as Mac based external USBs. Stay with us as we cover the salient features of FileVault and describe the process that you can use to protect your internal and external hard drives with this utility. Sponsored Links How to Encrypt Mac HDD and External USB in Mac OS X El Capitan using FileVault What is FileVault? Let’s start with a brief introduction. FileVault is a full-disk encryption scheme that uses XTS-AES 128 encryption to help prevent unauthorized access to your Mac.
First introduced in 2003, the scheme encrypts and decrypts Mac volumes on-the-fly. When the Mac is shut down, FileVault encrypts it and locks it with a password. To access the system, the user must key in the password to unlock and decrypt it. To use FileVault safely, you must always remember your password correctly. You can choose to backup your password on Apple server. The backup is protected by three security questions. To access the backed up password, you’ll have to answer the security questions.
The current version of FileVault is known as FileVault 2, and it is an improved version of the original or “Legacy FileVault.” FileVault 2 cannot be used with every Mac and all drive configurations. It can only be enabled on a single drive containing OS X and Recovery partitions.
Sponsored Links In addition to encrypting Mac hard disk drive, FileVault 2 also helps you encrypt removable drives. This allows you to protect your Time Machine backup drives. Additional advantages of the scheme include the ability to instantly wipe all encryption keys and all data from your Mac, thus making all information completely inaccessible. It is thus quite a handy utility to protect your Mac and the crucial data on it. Though it’s probably the most efficient way of making sure your data is always safe, FileVault 2 has its drawbacks, degraded performance being a major one.
Applying encryption and decryption on-the-fly takes its toll on the processor and systems with older Core CPUs experience significant performance lag. An aspect that you should take care of while using FileVault 2 is that it is transparent to anyone once the system is logged in. This means that once you’ve unlocked and decrypted the Mac with your password if anyone gains access to the machine all your data could very well be stolen. Hence, you must ensure that you don’t leave your Mac unattended if it is unlocked. To fully lock the encrypted drive, the best way is a full shutdown of the Mac.
Dec 12, 2018 - Download for PC Download for Mac. The Problem: Corrupt USB Pen Drive Repair Overview. USB flash drives, pen drives. The Free Tools: USB Flash Drive Repair Utility & Data Recovery Software. When you search 'USB. Since a broken EFI partition may prevent a Mac from starting up properly it can be a challenge to repair. There are options to attempt to manually rebuild, create, or repair the EFI partition, typically with fsck, diskutil, and third party tools like got frisk.
How to Enable FileVault on Mac HDD. Sponsored Links Step #6. Click on the “Turn On FileVault” button. If more than one user has the account on your Mac, each user will need to key in their password to unlock the disk.
The Mac will display a message for this when you activate FileVault. Click the “Enable User” button and enter the user’s password. All user accounts added after enabling FileVault are automatically enabled. Note: By default, FileVault uses your account password to encrypt the drive.
In case you forget it, a recovery key is generated to allow you to still unlock the drive. However, this key is displayed only once, so if and when it happens, make a note of the key and store it safely.
Once FileVault is successfully enabled, your Mac will reboot and will prompt you to login with your account credentials. You’ll need to provide your password each time you wish to login once FileVault is enabled. When logged in, the encryption mechanism goes on in the background so you can continue using the Mac without any hurdles. How to Enable FileVault on Mac external USB Since most USB drives are formatted using the FAT file system, you won’t be able to encrypt it directly. First, you’ll need to reformat the external USB to Mac OS Extended (Journaled) file system. Thereafter, you’ll be able to turn on encryption on it.
Once encrypted, it will be converted to Mac OS Extended (Journaled, Encrypted) file system. Here are the steps to encrypt external USB with FileVault: Step #1. Open Finder and select external USB from the list of drives on the left. Right-click and select Encrypt & flashdrivename Step #3.
Key-in encryption password, verify it and also provide a hint when prompted. Note: The encryption process might take a while depending upon the size of the USB. There won’t be a progress indicator so the only way to tell would be the indicator light on the USB. Don’t disconnect until the light keeps flickering. Once the drive is encrypted, you’ll be prompted to enter the password you set every time you wish to access the drive. How to Break the Encryption on a USB Drive This section explains the steps to decrypt an external USB that’s encrypted with FileVault 2.
Note: Decryption formats the drive so to avoid data loss,. Log in to OS X El Capitan with an administrator account. Go to Utilities → Application → Finder and launch Terminal. Type diskutil cs list and press Return. In the resultant code, copy the alphanumeric sequence adjacent to “Logical Volume Group.” Step #6. Type diskutil cs delete XXXXYYYYZZZZXYZ and press return. How to Turn Off Encryption on Mac HDD and External Drive To turn off encryption on the drive, follow the below-mentioned steps: Step #1.
Log in to OS X El Capitan with an administrator account. Go to Apple menu (top left corner) → System Preference → Security & Privacy. Select the FileVault tab and click on the padlock (bottom left corner of the pop-up.) Step #4. Enter the administrator name and password when prompted. Click on the “Turn Off FileVault” button. Restart your Mac.
To conclude FileVault 2 is an extremely useful scheme to protect your Mac, but it can prove to be costly performance-wise. Also, there are precautions you should consider when working with it so please use it wisely or else you could end up with crucial data that’s locked up in your Mac hard drive or external USB drive forever. Do share your feedback with us in the comment, on,.
MacOS Sierra is Apple's latest desktop operating system, which succeeds OS X El Capitan and adopts a new name to bring it in line with iOS, watchOS, and tvOS. The OS will come pre-installed on all new Macs once current stock is depleted and is a free download for existing Mac owners. The main new feature in macOS Sierra is deep Siri integration, bringing Apple's personal assistant to the Mac for the first time. It also adds new features to Photos and Messages, and includes Continuity smarts like Universal Clipboard and an Auto Unlock option for Apple Watch owners. This tutorial explains how to download macOS Sierra and perform a clean install, which offers several benefits over the automatic upgrade process included in the installation package. Benefits of a Clean Install A clean install can remove annoying quirks and strange behaviors that your Mac may have inherited over time due to driver upgrades, wonky apps, and messy installation procedures.
Performing a fresh install can also reclaim lost disk space caused by junk files left by third-party apps, and can generally make your Mac feel a lot snappier, enabling you to relive that feeling of booting it up for the first time. To complete the clean install procedure described below, you'll need an 8GB or larger USB thumb drive and an hour or two to spare. You should also perform a full backup of your Mac beforehand using Time Machine.
That way you can restore your system from the Recovery partition if something goes wrong. Alternatively, save a bootable mirror image of your system to an external drive using a clone utility like ($27.95) or ($39.99). Compatibility Check Before you do anything, check that your Mac is compatible with Apple's new operating system.
MacOS Sierra supports the following:. iMac (Late 2009 or newer). MacBook Air (2010 or newer). MacBook (Late 2009 or newer).
Mac mini (2010 or newer). MacBook Pro (2010 or newer).
Mac Pro (2010 or newer) Another way of checking if your Mac is compatible is to open the Apple menu in the upper left corner of your Mac's screen and selecting About This Mac. Look just below the OS X version number in the Overview tab – if the Mac model name is the same or a later model year than the one shown in the compatibility list above, your Mac is compatible with Sierra. Pre-Install Notes If you want total control of what data gets transferred to the new OS, you can sidestep the Migration Assistant and manually copy any important files and folders on your existing system to an external drive instead. It's also worth taking a screenshot of your desktop, to serve as a record of how you like things set up. Some users may find it useful to make a note of the contents of their Applications folder for later reference.
A screenshot may suffice (Command-Shift-4, then Space to capture the Finder window), but if not, the following steps describe a simple way to create a list of apps. Open the Applications folder and press Command+A to select all apps in the Finder window, then press Command+C. Now open up TextEdit, create a new document, select Format - Make Plain Text from the menu bar, and press Command+V to paste a list of app names into the document. If necessary, add details of download locations for any non-Mac App Store apps you use, append any serial numbers you might need, and save the text document to an external drive.Be sure to allow any cloud services you use to complete synchronization before continuing. It's also worth screen-grabbing or noting down any custom preferences, settings, Wi-Fi passwords, and app-specific profiles you use.
Lastly, de-authorize any services on your Mac, including your iTunes account (iTunes menu Store Deauthorize this Computer), since these are usually limited to a set number of systems. Create a Bootable Installer Download the macOS Sierra installation package from the Mac App Store.
Once it has downloaded, follow these steps to create a USB bootable installer. Open Disk Utility (found in the Applications/Utilities folder), select the thumb drive in the sidebar and click the 'Erase' button. Name the USB drive 'Untitled' if it isn't already, choose the Format 'OS X Extended (Journaled)', and click 'Erase'. Once your thumb drive is formatted and the macOS installation package has finished downloading, open up Terminal (found in Applications/Utilities).
Now, ensure the USB drive is the only disk named 'Untitled' connected to your Mac, and then paste the following command into the Terminal window, and press Enter: sudo /Applications/Install macOS Sierra.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia -volume /Volumes/Untitled -applicationpath /Applications/Install macOS Sierra.app -nointeraction. You should be prompted for your administrator password.
Enter it, and the command will create a bootable Sierra installer on the USB drive. The process will take a few minutes to complete, so leave it running. Restart and Install Once the USB installer has been created, restart your Mac and hold down the Option key as soon as you hear the reboot tone. Then follow these steps:.
Use the mouse pointer or the arrow keys on your keyboard to select the disk called 'Install macOS Sierra' in the drive list that appears on the screen. Once the USB drive has booted, select 'Disk Utility' from the Utilities window, choose your Mac's startup drive from the list, and click 'Erase'. When your Mac's startup disk is formatted, return to the Utilities window and select 'Install macOS', choose your freshly erased startup drive when asked where to install the OS, and follow the onscreen prompts to complete the installation. Post-Install Steps Once the clean installation of macOS Sierra is up and running on your Mac, you can either restore your data from a Time Machine backup using Migration Assistant (found in Applications/Utilities), or begin restoring your apps, files, and settings manually to get your Mac set up just the way you like it. Can you confirm this? Because on Apple writes that 'This installs the OS X that came with your Mac when it was new' and that the new owner (or you) would need to upgrade via the App Store afterwards to get the latest.
Asking because I am not sure which is best as I am planning to give my old iMac away (waiting for the new Pro.) Internet Recovery (command– option-R) ≠ Recovery (command–R). Recovery uses a local partition on your disk, whereas Internet Recovery loads an environment on-demand. The latter will always load one to install the original version of OS X, whereas the regular Recovery will always load the version that matches its own version. Is this really worth doing? I have 'dirty' upgraded since I got my MBP in 2011 and not noticed any issue so far.:-/ No, it is not. I have been advocating against it. It is a waste of time for most users and provides no absolute benefits.
I only recommend it if system configurations were changed (e.g. In /private/etc or /private/var), because this is something that a reinstallation will not fix reliably (given that it is expressly meant for configuration). Under normal circumstances, the user never changes anything of this manually. Since El Capitan, Apple claims complete ownership over /System, /bin, /sbin and /usr.
This makes it very difficult to even break anything beyond repair. Normally, a reinstallation is enough to fix such problems, because it is effectively an overwrite anyway. I don't know why everyone always suggests the USB install disk method to clean install a new OS. It's long, complicated, and requires buying a 16GB USB stick if you don't have one. There's an easier way, particularly if you only have one computer you want to clean install: When you boot from the recovery partition it allows you to erase the boot drive and reinstall the last installed version of macOS.
Now, at this stage you probably have El Capitan installed, so you need to download Sierra from the App Store and upgrade as usual. Then once it is installed, restart your computer and hold down command R at restart to boot from recovery partition. Use disk utility to erase your boot disk then reinstall macOS. Hope that helps!This is typically what I do.
That being said, how is the USB method 'long and complicated' compared to doing two installations of the operating system which you do via the recovery partition method? Why do people seem to hate that there is Siri in macOS? Didn't people complain that it wasn't there for years? And isn't 'deep integration' Apple's thing?
(shrugs) doublepost=/doublepost There is so much wrong with this post I don't even know where to start. If there are no problems with your System there is NO need to reinstall, (Mac)OS (X) does not rot like Windows 2. You say 'I greatly reduce the accumulation of malware, spyware', I just laugh out loud. I laugh even more after you said 'In fact, I reinstall at least once every 6 months' 4. You say 'import your user profile during the post-install setup wizard' means importing back the crap you had.
(Yes I read the I do not recommend bit. I do not recommend anyone to follow the link he gave, there is no reason to reinstall our OS if NOTHING is wrong! You're being incredibly rude. Let him be who he wants to be and let it go. Everyone doesn't have to be the same or hold your beliefs.
It's a shame people can treat others so poorly because they're hidden behind a computer screen. I don't know why everyone always suggests the USB install disk method to clean install a new OS. It's long, complicated, and requires buying a 16GB USB stick if you don't have one.
There's an easier way, particularly if you only have one computer you want to clean install: When you boot from the recovery partition it allows you to erase the boot drive and reinstall the last installed version of macOS. Now, at this stage you probably have El Capitan installed, so you need to download Sierra from the App Store and upgrade as usual.
Then once it is installed, restart your computer and hold down command R at restart to boot from recovery partition. Use disk utility to erase your boot disk then reinstall macOS. Hope that helps! That works but is it really easier though? Upgrade + erase and new installation is typically going to take longer than just erase and restore from installer, in addition to putting a lot of unnecessary wear from upgrading first before doing a fresh install on the flash storage that most of us have.
doublepost=/doublepost Can you confirm this? Because on Apple writes that 'This installs the OS X that came with your Mac when it was new' and that the new owner (or you) would need to upgrade via the App Store afterwards to get the latest. Asking because I am not sure which is best as I am planning to give my old iMac away (waiting for the new Pro.) The local recovery partition does restore the version that you last installed. It's the Internet Recovery that installs the original version that came on your Mac.