Password Protecting An External Hard Drive.

I am running 10.6.2 on my Macbook Pro 2.33 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo.
I've just used Super Duper to back up and make a bootable copy of my Macbook Pro's internal hard drive. My question is can I password protect this new external hard drive, and it if it password protected, will I still be able to boot up from it should anything go wrong with the internal hard drive?
If the answer is yes to both questions, then I would very much appreciate some tips on how to go about this.
Many thanks in advance.

there are no built in tools for that. but you can turn on filevault on your home directory and encrypt your home folder. that's enough for most people as there really isn't any sensitive data outside your home directory. then of course the home directory on the clone will be just as protected.
if you want full disk encryption you need to use 3rd party tools like TrueCrypt or PGP encryption. I'm not familiar with them and don't know if they allow you to boot from encrypted drives.

Similar Messages

Help- how to password protect an external hard drive?

I'm just stuck. There must be a way to encrypt or password protect an external hard drive. No?

The easiest way is to make an encrypted disk image of the folder contents with Disk Utility. Go to Disk Utility's File menu -> New -> Disk Image from Folder. There you can pick an encrypted disk image. Once you have made that image, delete the folder that it came from and leave the image behind. Mind you, there is always the risk you might lock yourself out permanently from that data if the image becomes corrupted. You are safer keeping the external hard disk in a physically safe place when not in use.

Password protection for external hard drive

is anyone aware of a good, reliable program which allows you to protect data on your external hard drive with a password?

Actually, there's really no reason to make the disk image the size of the whole hard drive. It would make it convenient in a way, since the disk image would have plenty of room on it, but it would also make backups a major pain in the arse, since one minor change to one file inside the image file means the whole thing has to get backed up. If you've got a 150 GB drive, that means a change to a 4 k file requires that you back up 150 GB. (And where do you back up several incremental backups of a 150 GB file to, anyway?)
What I would recommend is to use many smaller disk images. For example, if you've got 10 projects on the drive, each taking up, say, 150 MB, then you could make 10 disk images that are 200 MB (or more or less, depending on anticipated growth of the projects), and put the files for each project inside one image. Change one project, you only have to back up one image file, which is only a fraction of the total size of the drive. Even if you made each image file 1 GB -- an order of magnitude larger than the project files -- it would still be something you could easily back up onto a DVD, and all 10 disk images would still only take up less than 7% of a 150 GB drive.

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.

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.

How to password protect an external hard drive

I just bought an external HD to use with Time Machine and for some extra space, but I would really like to password protect it. Since it has all my files on it, it is just as important as password protecting my computer. I'm thinking I probably have to use Disk Utilities, but I'm not quite sure how to do it.
Please be as detailed as possible, because I don't delve into Utilities very often.
Thanks
P.S. My HD is a Toshiba Portable Hard Drive, if it makes any difference. It advertises on the back that it can be password protected, but I have been unable of finding any way to do so.

Hello FidgetingFinhc,
The best protection for your data is to maintain the data as a encrypted disk image. Creating a "sparse image" will require a password to open:
I would follow the instructions provided by the Apple Support document below on how to make this happen.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1578
Hope this helps.
B-rock

How do i protect an external hard drive?

Hi,
Been doing some research and can't figure out the best way to password protect/ encrypt an external hard drive. I know you can use disk utility in os x to create a disk image on the external drive but what if someone plugged the drive into a Windows computer? How does it handle the disk image? Could they access the files on it?
Also, if I had an external hard drive and wanted to partition it but have it protected using a disk image, could I make the entire thing a disk image and then partition the disk image and have everything be password protected? I want to create two partitions... one to clone my system and the other for file storage....is it possible to put these two on a password protected disk image?
So, any other ways to password protect/encrypt an external hard drive?
Thank you..

Instead of protecting the whole drive, it would be better to encrypt just a folder on that drive, therefore allowing windows PCs to place other stuff on the drive.
Try "Vault", a free application found here
http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/systemdiskutilities/vault.html

I need the unconfusing way to put a password on a external hard drive, please

it seems the more i look the more confusing things got. basically i have a new hard drive ( g drive mobile usb ) i want to put a password on to it so that if you do not know the password you will not be able to access ANYTHING. it seems like there is either a tutorial on how to put a password on to a 'folder' & when it comes to a 'harddrive' the term 'password' is now 'encrypted' & it just seems like there is a difference in the explanation. also people seem to say "thumb drive" a lot & i know that i am not talking about a thumb drive, i am using a hard drive, maybe it is all the same but nobody is saying so & i don't want to find out that a password on a folder or a thumb drive is totally different when it comes to using a hard drive.
so, how do i put a password onto a hard drive so that when i plug in the usb cable you will next have to type in the password to see anything on the hard drive??
just updated to mavericks by the way

If you want to protect everything on the drive, then you need to encrypt the drive.
Don't store the password in your keychain as that will automatically decrypt the drive when it is connected.
Here is an article written for mountain lion, but I think it is the same for mavericks.
http://m.imore.com/how-easily-encrypt-external-drives-os-x-mountain-lion
Another here: http://osxdaily.com/2012/09/17/how-to-encrypt-an-external-drive-quickly-in-mac-o s-x/
I'm not sure if it is stated directly, but the drive must be partitioned as a GUID partition table.
If just want to encrypt some of the data, http://osxdaily.com/2012/01/11/password-protect-files-folders-in-mac-os-x/

Password Protect external hard drive, it hasn't worked, why?

Hi, I've surfed around and read how to password protect an external hard drive and I encrypted it, etc as told.
However, and this will likely show my ignorance but isn't that the point of asking a question...
The thing is, it's made the disk image that requires a password, but the hard drive can be ejected and put in and accessed without a password. The disk image is protected, permanently there (so maybe now it's taking up space on my hard drive, and the actual external hard drive is the same as it ever was and can be accessed without any password.
Is there something I've done wrong, or something I'm not understanding about the concept?
Thanks in advance.
Message was edited by: NeanderCuz

Hi-
Welcome to Discussions!
Double clicking the disk image should respond with a password request.
Does yours work that way?
If so, you didn't do anything wrong, as far as the encrypted disk image goes.
That's about all that you can do.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1578
To encrypt the entire drive and make it inaccessible without password, this might be what you want:
http://www.truecrypt.org/

External hard drive protection

this question doesn't relate to this particular forum, however, the "Post message" link is not showing up in the relevant categories. 2 ?'s: (1) is anyone else experiencing this issue (where you can post a new message in certain forums, but not others) and (2) whether anyone is aware of a reliable, safe software program which allows you to protect your external hard drive with a password?

Once you get to the iMac discussion area, then you need to select a sub area depending on which iMac you have.
For example, if you have an iMac G5 you would look under the title "iMac G5", find "Expanding your iMac G5" and click on it. This will take you to this area where you can post new questions.

External hard drive data protection

Is it possible to limit data access to one user via a password on the external hard drive plug into the USB port of a AirPort Extreme ?
Thank you

Yes

Icannot get my pcs to see the external hard drive when I attatch it to the usb port of the airport extreme. They do recognize a thumb drive but will not see the external hard drive. What do I need to do. The ext hard drive is a "MY PASSPORT" with no pw

I need assistance getting my windows computers to see my external harddrive attached to the airport extreme. It is a my passport. The disk shows on the airport utilitiy but neither of my pcs can see it. If i connect a simple thumb dirve they see it just fine.
What do i need to do to get this to work. There is no password on the external hard drive at the moment. I tried removing it to see if that would work.

There are a number of posts related to access issues between Windows Vista / 7 and AirPort Disks. Two potential solutions being forwarded are: 1) Changing the LAN Manager authentication level, and/or 2) Disabling the Windows Search feature.
To change the LAN Manager authentication level:
From the Windows Vista / 7 desktop, click Start
Search for: security
Click 'Local Security Policy'
Goto Local Policies > Security Options
Under Policy, double-click 'Network security: LAN Manager authentication level'
Change level to: Send LM & NTLM responses
Under Policy, double-click 'Network security: Minimum session security for NTLM SSP based (including RPC) clients'
De-select 'Require 128-bit encryption'
Click OK
To disable Windows Search:
Start > Control Panel > Programs > Programs & Features
On the right-hand side, click "Turn Windows features on/off"
Scroll down, and de-select "Windows Search".
Press OK, close all windows and restart.
A third "solution," that has worked for me, is verify that both the AirPort base station and the Win7 PC are using the exact same Workgroup Name. In my case, I use "WORKGROUP" (without the quote marks) for this name. From the AirPort Utility, you would enter this value on the Disks > File Sharing tab. On Win7, Start > Control Panel > System and Security > System > Change Settings > Change > Workgroup

Password protect 2 connected usb drives

I have an Airport Extreme Base Station. I have one USB hard drive connected to it that's protected with a password. No problem so far.
Now I want to add another USB hard drive to the AEBS via an usb hub. I was wondering if it's possible to password protect that new hard drive with another password than the first hard drive?
So, to connect to drive 1 you need to know password A.
To connect to drive 2 you need to know password B.

Connect that second drive and launch Airport Utility. Go to disks and explore your options. You'll find you cannot do that.

I can't access password protection manager on my External Hard Drive to unlock it

I can't access password protection manager on my External Hard Drive to unlock it , its kind of infected by a virus I guess and it is not bring me the password protection manage screen to enter password and access my data...
Solved!
Go to Solution.

Hi vahid22! Please provide the model number (usually on the bottom of the unit) of your Sony External Hard Drive. Thank you!

Can't access Password Protection Manager on my External Hard Drive to unlock it

I can't access password protection manager on my External Hard Drive to unlock it , I got updated antivirus and I always use safely remove to remove the hard drive. I see the UNLOCK APP Drive, and the Public Area, but when I run the "Password Protection Manager.exe" file at UNLOCK APP Drive, the bar will just be fulfilled by approximately 60% by showing "Loading...", then it stops for many seconds, and it starts to run the Installation file (PasswordProtectionManagerSetup_F.exe) which will delete all unlocked files if I accept it to install.
2 TB External Hard Drive Model HD-E2
Model No.: OAW1AGK370300BF
201307
Please let me know how I can access my protected files (the locked drive).

Hi vahid22! Please provide the model number (usually on the bottom of the unit) of your Sony External Hard Drive. Thank you!

Password Protecting An External Hard Drive.

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