How do I password protect the external hard drive used for Time Machine backup

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

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.

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    In Disk Utility
    http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.7/en/mchlp1725.html
    Message was edited by: b j t

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    For All things Time Machine see Pondini's Excellent Infirmation here...
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  • I have an IMAC and I'm running OSX 10.9.2.  I'd like to store my Aperture /IMovie Libraries to an external hard drive.  In addition, I'd like to partition the external hard drive so that Time Machine can use it to both back up my IMac and the externa

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    I'd like to store my Aperture /IMovie Libraries on an external hard drive.
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    In addition, I'd like to partition the external hard drive so that Time Machine can use it to both back up my IMac and the external library drives.
    Let me be clear.. you want to partition the one disk.. use it for TM and move your files to the external disk.. and then backup to the same disk.. You can do it.. but that is not a backup.. that is an experiment in how long you can get away with running files and backups on the same disk before you lose everything.. like Russian Roulette.. pull the trigger enough times and laws of probability will do you in.
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    Delete a photo it is deleted across all disks.. you have no recovery.
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  • External hard drive setup for time machine reading as a virtual cd

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  • Accidentally converted my external hard drive to a time machine backup

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    As Link pointed out in that thread, there's a lot excluded:
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    He's also shown some things that aren't being backed-up, and suggested a couple of things to do, but you haven't responded to his last post.

  • External usb disc used for Time Machine backup disconnects when Mac has been into sleep mode

    I use a 1Tb External usb disc used for Time Machine backup which works fine, but when the Mac goes into sleep mode & powers back on I get a message stating that you should always eject the Drive before removing.
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    Look at the root of your hard drive for a folder called Backups.backupdb.
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  • Are all external FW drives used for Time Machine more prone to fail?

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    Bus-powered seem not as robust as self-powered.
    Soemtimes cables are flaky.
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  • Mac os x mountain lion The volume is already used for Time Machine backups

    Hey
    I downloaded the Mac OS X Mountain Lion and then I clicked on the hard disk and then was "The volume is already used for Time Machine backups.
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    Well, this isn't a download window, it's an installer window. You need to select one of your hard drive volumes on which to install Lion.
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  • HT3275 My time machine backup hangs up when partly completed. It seems to back up 7.4 MB out of 159.8 MB, and then keeps on turning but nothing seems to be happening. I tried troubleshooting it by doing a disk utility on the external hard drive used for T

    My Time Machine seems to be hanging up (stopping) beforew completion. I'm running Mountain Lion (OS X 10.8.2) on my iMac G5, and I already trouble-shot the external drive used for Time Machine by using Repair on Disk Utilities. So--what gives?

    IMac G5 with Mountain Lion.. amazing.. I am pretty sure support for early Intel stopped at ML and support for G5 long before that.
    Load the widget and see if you get error message that the TM is ejecting the drive.. before the backup is complete.. that is one of those nice.. features.. Apple has made available in recent updates.. sometimes called bugs.
    A1 in here http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html
    Also look at the other info.. C12 C17 are common issues.

  • Can I disconnect the external hard drive even if Time Machine is set to back up every so often?

    I noticed that Time Machine backs up the system ever so often.  What happens if I disconnect the external hard drive I'm using as the back up and Time Machine tries to initiate a back up?  Will it corrupt anything?

    As long as you properly eject the drive before unplugging it, TM will detect that is no longer mounted and will not do anything until you plug it back and OS X mounts the drive again.
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  • How do I password protect an external hard drive?

    I'm using a 500 GB external hard drive to back up my PowerMac. I'd like to find a simple, robust "password protection" tool or software, to password protect this drive, in case it falls in to nefarious hands. If it's free, that's fine, but I'm also happy to buy. Any idea's?
    Thanks!

    Hi-
    The best protection for your data, is to maintain the data as a encrypted disk image. This will provide both the need for a password, as well as decryption. Creating a "sparse image" will require a password to open:
    http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107333
    Ext. HDD passwords, in OS X, are just permissions, which can be changed, or hacked, and don't give much protection.

  • On a 500G MBP running Lion what's the best size to partition a 2T WD external hard drive to for Time Machine? Thankse

    Just picked up a 2T WD external HD for my new MBPro with 500 G drive. Looking to use part of the external drive for Time MAchine. Not sur if I should designate 1T of it or 750G. I'm running Lion. What's the best way to format the external drive. Disk Utility?
    Thanks,
    Dennis

    Ask in Lion: TimeMachine / MacBook Pro even - this is workstation territory
    I would not use the same drive for data and for backups.
    If I had to, I'd make a partition large enough to boot your Mac from though, whether 50-500GB to clone your system. 
    You should still be able to use Lion's Recovery boot mode.
    I don't think there really is much choice in what to format with, unless you want to spend over $100.

  • External Hard Drive ejects during Time Machine Backup

    I've read through all the troubleshooting pages that I thought had anything to do with this problem, but none of my error messages seemed to match. This is my first backup with Time Machine onto my external hard drive, and it never gets past about 60GB before deciding that the drive has improperly ejected itself and aborting the backup. The error message from my Time Machine Buddy is below:
    Starting standard backup
    Backing up to: /Volumes/Untitled/Backups.backupdb
    Ownership is disabled on the backup destination volume.  Enabling.
    Backup content size: 147.2 GB excluded items size: 5.1 GB for volume Macintosh HD
    No pre-backup thinning needed: 170.49 GB requested (including padding), 930.54 GB available
    Waiting for index to be ready (101)
    Copied 56.0 GB of 142.1 GB, 112101 of 886988 items
    Error writing to backup log.  NSFileHandleOperationException:*** -[NSConcreteFileHandle writeData:]: Device not configured
    Error: (-50) SrcErr:NO Copying /System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/1.8/usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/ge ms/net-ssh-1.1.4/lib/net/ssh/proxy/errors.rb to /Volumes/Untitled/Backups.backupdb/Eugenio Vargas Computer/2011-05-17-161101.inProgress/E6F5C3CB-75B8-41C4-B52E-138235EB4B34/Maci ntosh HD/System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/1.8/usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/ gems/net-ssh-1.1.4/lib/net/ssh/proxy
    Error writing to backup log.  NSFileHandleOperationException:*** -[NSConcreteFileHandle writeData:]: Device not configured
    Error: (-50) SrcErr:NO Copying /System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/1.8/usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/ge ms/net-ssh-1.1.4/lib/net/ssh/proxy/http.rb to /Volumes/Untitled/Backups.backupdb/Eugenio Vargas Computer/2011-05-17-161101.inProgress/E6F5C3CB-75B8-41C4-B52E-138235EB4B34/Maci ntosh HD/System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/1.8/usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/ gems/net-ssh-1.1.4/lib/net/ssh/proxy
    Error writing to backup log.  NSFileHandleOperationException:*** -[NSConcreteFileHandle writeData:]: Device not configured
    Error: (-50) SrcErr:NO Copying /System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/1.8/usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/ge ms/net-ssh-1.1.4/lib/net/ssh/proxy/socks4.rb to /Volumes/Untitled/Backups.backupdb/Eugenio Vargas Computer/2011-05-17-161101.inProgress/E6F5C3CB-75B8-41C4-B52E-138235EB4B34/Maci ntosh HD/System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/1.8/usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/ gems/net-ssh-1.1.4/lib/net/ssh/proxy
    Error writing to backup log.  NSFileHandleOperationException:*** -[NSConcreteFileHandle writeData:]: Device not configured
    Error: (-50) SrcErr:NO Copying /System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/1.8/usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/ge ms/net-ssh-1.1.4/lib/net/ssh/proxy/socks5.rb to /Volumes/Untitled/Backups.backupdb/Eugenio Vargas Computer/2011-05-17-161101.inProgress/E6F5C3CB-75B8-41C4-B52E-138235EB4B34/Maci ntosh HD/System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/1.8/usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/ gems/net-ssh-1.1.4/lib/net/ssh/proxy
    Indexing a file failed. Returned 200 for: /System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/1.8/usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/ge ms/net-ssh-1.1.4/lib/net/ssh/proxy, /Volumes/Untitled/Backups.backupdb/Eugenio Vargas Computer/2011-05-17-161101.inProgress/E6F5C3CB-75B8-41C4-B52E-138235EB4B34/Maci ntosh HD/System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/1.8/usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/ gems/net-ssh-1.1.4/lib/net/ssh/proxy
    Aborting backup because indexing of file failed.
    Other details:
    My external drive is a WD 1TB drive. The partition for the Time Machine Backup is formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled), as is my Macintosh HD. The Partition Map Scheme on the external drive is GUID Partition Table.
    I have tried reformatting the external drive for good measure, but this doesn't seem to solve any problems. I also tried searching for the file that the error message says NO Copying for (/System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/1.8/usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/g ems/net-ssh-1.1.4/lib/net/ssh/proxy/...) but I'm unable to find the files. I can get as far as /System/Library/Frameworks, but can find no folder in Frameworks titled Ruby.
    Please help.

    The Ruby folder is probably hidden. That is why you don't see it.
    You may want to add System/Library/Frameworks to the exempted sync list until you can figure out which file is causing this. You can do this by opening Time Machine Preferences ( > System Preferences > Time Machine) and clicking on Options…
    After that click the small + key and browse to the folder you want to exempt from the sync. In your case: Macintosh HD > System > Library > Frameworks
    Next hit the exclude button with the Frameworks folder highlighted.
    Try your backup again and see if it fails.

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