Time Machine Security? No Encryption?

I am concerned about security for my Time Machine external hard drive. Is there no way to password protect it or encrypt it? The last mac I had was 6 years ago running OS 9.2.2 so I am having to relearn everything with OS X. Thanks for any help.

Note that if you use FileVault to encrypt your Home folder that Time Machine will not backup the Home folder until you log off from your account. You must then leave the computer running until TM finishes the backup. For some users this may prove very inconvenient especially if you need to leave the computer unattended while the backup is going on.
You must also leave sufficient free space on your hard drive that is equal to or larger than your encrypted Home folder in the event you may need to decrypt the Home folder. If there isn't sufficient space you will not be able to decrypt the Home folder.

Similar Messages

  • Is Time Machine Secure?

    Hello,
    I'm using FileVault for my home directory which secures it I guess by making my home directory an encrypted disk image. My question is, since Time Machine makes copies of everything in your hard drive (including home directory) then can this be a security issue in my case because Time machine has made backups into its database of all my files which require my login to access are now accessible in Time machines database?
    Is there another recommend way to use time machine that would be more secure? Maybe create a password protected disk image and use that as time machine's disk to save?
    Please let me know.
    Thanks,
    - Jake

    Security is the big short coming in time machine. It would have been a great backup program 5 years ago or so before encrypted disk became a requirement for backups. As mentioned before, Time Machine does not play well with File Vault. Neither is it possible AFAIK, to use an encrypted drive for your backups. Oh... and full disk encryption is also still missing from Leopard anyway. Like for Tiger, there isn't even a third party solution for it. (at least I haven't found one so far).

  • How can I tell if my Time Machine backups are encrypted?

    Hi - I would really appreciate it if someone could help me find out if my Time Machine backps are actually encrypted.
    I know that there is an 'encryption' option when choosing a disc for Time Machine to backup to, but the problem is I cannot remember whether or not I actually ticked it (as it was a couple of years ago).
    Other info that might be helpful:
    - The disk I use Time Machine to backup to is actually a Apple Time Capsule
    - I do have FileVault2 enabled on my mac
    - I have never encrypted the Time Capsule disc itself (via Disk Utility or anything similar)
    - One possible clue might be: When I go into Time Machine preferences, and click on 'Select Disk...' (as if to choose another disk to back up to), and select the disc that Time Machine currently backs up to (i.e. the Time Capsule disc), it does show an 'Encrypt backups' checkbox at the bottom of the window... however this checkbox is unchecked and also greyed out.
    Thanks in advance
    a_quinn

    a_quinn wrote:
    - Because I originally created this Time Machine Backup (to the Time Capsule) back in my 'OS X Lion' days,
    I wondered; you posted in the Mountain Lion forum, but your profile still says Lion.
    that means that my backups now (and moving forward) will continue to be un-encrypted
    Correct (as of now, anyway).  You cannot encrypt existing network backups.  I doubt that will be available in the future, and would take forever. 
    - The only way to encyrpt my backups now, moving forward, is to remove this Time Capsule disc (from Time Machine Preferences), and start all over again ensuring that I check the checkbox next to 'Encrypt Backup' when selecting the Time Capsule's disc to backup to.
    Well, in theory it's possible, but would take forever, squared. 
    You could archive the TC's contents to a USB drive connected to it, per #Q6 in Using Time Machine with a Time Capsule). 
    Then delete the original, start a backup with encryption, and as soon as the encrypted sparse bundle is created, cancel the backup.
    Mount the sparse bundle, open the disk image, and delete the Backups.backupdb folder inside it.
    Connect the USB drive to your Mac, mount that sparse bundle, open its disk image, and copy the Backups.backupdb folder to the one on the TC.
    Depending on how large the sparse bundle is, that could easily take a couple of days, at least, even connected via Ethernet.
    Just for testing one day, I encrypted a very small set of existing test backups on a F/W 800 drive - 6 dated backups using a whole 12 GB.  Took an hour.
    An alternative would be, just do the "archive" and keep the USB drive "on the shelf" for a while.  You can always connect it to your Mac and access those backups via the Browse Other Backup Disks option. 
    Trying to keep a couple of years worth of backups usually isn't a good idea.  It's a very complex structure, so the odds of damage increase, it takes much longer to populate the TM browser, and it works slower and slower, and if you didn't need something for 6 months, are you really going to need it in 2 years?

  • What happens if you Time-Machine backup an encrypted file-vault HD?

    This is related to my previous post - but deserves special mention for those people who are using time-vault AND Time-Machine.
    My question is this: If the backup of my Hard-drive is encrypted, and I then reinstall from backup, what will this situation likely produce?
    This is what I have done. I also Archived and installed my Mac prior to installing from my Time-Machine backup.
    I now have an error message that displays the following message at the login screen:
    "Unable to log into the file-vault account "......." at this time. An error has occurred."
    My password IS CORRECT. I have not changed it, and the log in window does accept my password, but it doesn't progress any further than the error message I gave above.
    I'm wondering if the encryption process of file-vault is linked directly with the original installation I had of Mac OS-X before I Archived and installed.
    Any thoughts/knowledge/Insight?? I want my old Mac back! (I don't recommend using file-vault). Any body else had this problem or can see what is happening to me here?
    Thank you
    Greg

    I just did a backup, moved a folder with 600mb of images into a different folder, and did another backup. The free space on the backup drive dropped by the size of the folder's contents. The backup copied the files as I watched in System Preferences, and it looked like it was really copying the files to the external drive again. It looks like Time Machine isn't as smart as I hoped in this regard.
    Still - I'd think the wasted space is only in the every-hour-for-the-last-24-hours bucket of Time Machine. I'm guessing the every hour backups are like a sliding window, where a backup that's 24 hours old drops out every hour rather than all the hourly backups getting wiped at midnight and starting over.
    Regardless, only one version of the moved folder will eventually be stored as the daily backup for that day. I don't have proof, but that's what I think.
    So, if you've moved a bunch of folders around or renamed them, the extra copies of the same exact files should drop off within 24 hours.
    That's my interpretation, but I'm in no way positive!! The lengthy Ars review didn't offer an answer to this question.

  • Time machine backing up encrypted home folder

    My macbook pro is required to be encrypted using file vault
    I want to have some backup capability so I connected our older model time capsule (500 GB circa 2008) to my laptop with an ethernet cable.
    Based on checking with the finder, my home directory is about 58 GB and everything else on the Mac HD was not selected for backup. When I run time machine, it begins backing up WHILE I AM LOGGED INTO MY ACCOUNT. It takes all day to do a backup. If I log out, there is no message from time machine about backing up my home directory. When I log in andit does a scheduled backup the next day, it looks like it tries to do another complete backup of 58 GB, rather than an incremental backup. I gather that this is because the sparse bundle disk image of my home directory acts like one big file. This behavior is different than has been explained in the forums. Is my home directory actually being backed up while I'm logged in?
    This backup strategy is probably not the best for me but is better than nothing. I have about 9 GB of space available on my idisk and was wondering: Can I backup certain home directory folders to idisk as a way to do more of an incremental backup of more frequently used files? Or will this be a problem due to the encryption. Any suggestions?

    Yes, I've excluded nearly everything else. Pretty much everything I use is in my Home Folder of 58 GB.
    The excluded stuff includes Library 15.7 GB, OSX Files/Apps 17 GB.
    Not excluded is Apps 9 GB, 6 GB movies, and my User folder
    Yes I am looking at the Time machine message saying Backing up x GB of 58.1 GB
    I see the recovering disk space message when logging out but not the backing up message.
    If I go to Time machine, I can see all my files when navigating either from my home directory or from the hard disk and the sparse bundle doesn't show up
    If I log in as admin, I could see the sparse bundle
    Here is the console so far for a backup I started yesterday (now 1143 am Fri) at 31 of 58 GB). I downloaded the widget but did not want to mess with the admin stuff
    8/12/10 12:04:43 PM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[918] Backup requested by user
    8/12/10 12:04:43 PM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[918] Starting standard backup
    8/12/10 12:04:53 PM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[918] Mounted network destination using URL: afp://[email protected]/Powell's%20Time%20Capsule
    8/12/10 12:04:53 PM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[918] Backup destination mounted at path: /Volumes/Powell's Time Capsule
    8/12/10 12:04:59 PM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[918] Disk image /Volumes/Powell's Time Capsule/NeXT_0017f2c9f4df.sparsebundle mounted at: /Volumes/Backup of NeXT
    8/12/10 12:04:59 PM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[918] Backing up to: /Volumes/Backup of NeXT/Backups.backupdb
    8/12/10 12:05:00 PM com.apple.backupd[918] 2010-08-12 12:05:00.560 FindSystemFiles[941:713] Querying receipt database for system packages
    8/12/10 12:05:05 PM com.apple.backupd[918] 2010-08-12 12:05:05.316 FindSystemFiles[941:713] Using system path cache.
    8/12/10 12:05:11 PM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[918] Waiting for index to be ready (906 > 0)
    8/12/10 12:07:59 PM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[918] No pre-backup thinning needed: 69.75 GB requested (including padding), 330.64 GB available
    8/12/10 12:08:20 PM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[918] Copied 1 files (3 bytes) from volume mark.
    8/12/10 12:21:23 PM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[918] Backup destination alias resolved to path: /Volumes/Powell's Time Capsule
    8/12/10 12:21:26 PM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[918] Disk image /Volumes/Powell's Time Capsule/NeXT_0017f2c9f4df.sparsebundle mounted at: /Volumes/Backup of NeXT

  • Time Machine Backups of Encrypted Disk Images, Part 2

    Hi:
    If Time Machine is backing up a hard drive that contains a subset encrypted disk image as part of its contents, and this encrypted disk image is mounted (in an unencrypted state) where the enclosed data has been changed/manipulated in any fashion, what and when does Time Machine backup?
    In other words, does the data in the encrypted disk image only change when the encrypted disk image is unmounted? Or is it somehow backed up real time even when the encrypted disk image is mounted on the desktop in an unencrypted state while Time Machine is working?
    Sorry I can't explain this very well, but hopefully the gist is clear.
    Thanks!
    (OS 10.8.2)

    Time Machine doesn't back up a disk image file while it's mounted, whether encrypted or not.

  • Time Machine Backup Disk Encryption Password

    I use a partitioned external drive to backup my stuff. Had enabled encryption option for the Time Machine backup disk and forgot the same. Can not find an entry in Keychain, any inputs on how to retrieve the password or unlock the particular partition?

    Thanks for your reply. Call me stupid, but I had set-up the encryption in August and didn't use the back-up since then. Even though hint is visible, it doesn't help.

  • Time machine stuck at "encrypting"

    I have a 2009 iMac 27inch running Mavericks.  Just got a new 4 TB Seagate Plus Backup drive and formatted it Mac OS extended (journaled).  Set up Time Machine to do an encrypted backup.  The backup seemed to go fine.  It ran for 8 or 9 hours.  Now it's been stuck at "encrypting" for about 14 hours.  There has been no progress, according to the blue progress bar, at all.  Any help would be appreciated.  Thanks in advance.  

    Hi Eric,
    No, it didn't display it at the bottom.  I also tried to reformat the drive, but Disk Utility wouldn't let me erase it.  Finally, I ejected the disk, unplugged it, plugged it back in.  I was able to erase it and I reformatted it in MacOS journaled (NOT encrypted).  Now I do see the partition map scheme listed and it does state GUID partition  table.  I have been able to perform an initial Time Machine backup.  It even did another one or two after that.  Now I get the same message as before.
    Any ideas?

  • Time Machine (TM)'s encryption newbie questions.

    I have a few questions about its TM encryption:
    1. Can I still access it on other computers (beside Macs, and those that can read Mac file system (HFS)) and use it to access its data?
    2. Can I remove/add encryption easily on the fly or does it require redoing it from scratch?
    Thank you in advance.

    See item #C8 in the Time Machine - Troubleshooting *User Tip* at the top of this forum.

  • Time machine security

    since time machine is an external drive where in everyone using it can save, back up, and view files, is it possible that I put a password on my files/ folder so that only I can view and edit my files. is this possible?

    If, as it seems to me you want to restrict access to your TM Backups, you could try looking into Get Info of your computer name in Backups.backdb on the external HD. In the Get Info panel under the Sharing & Permissions you may be able to restrict access to just yourself - but be careful and be sure of what you're changing.
    Failing that, check out File Vault in Security System Preferences but I haven't used this yet so have no experience of it.
    Joe

  • Time Machine restore with encryption

    Hello,
    I'm using Vault 2 on my Lion. Before restore I simple started up the Mac and I saw user list, after login system ran up.
    After restore from Time Machine when I start my Mac there is now login screen with "Disc Password" and "Guest". After I log in, system starts. Then list with users comes up and I have to login with password again.
    What happened? Can I do restore so it works as it did before and I do not have to login twice each start up?
    Thanks.

    How do I restore my entire system?
    Regards,
    Colin R.

  • Time Machine Security with Filevault

    When one backs up a Filevault encrypted disk (say your MacBookPro) onto an unencrypted TimeCapsule (or any other hard drive), is the encrypted data stored in a "safe" encrypted format on TimeCapsule, or is is the unencrypted clear text that is stored on the backup disk?
    Thank you!

    CharPatton wrote:
    When one backs up a Filevault encrypted disk (say your MacBookPro) onto an unencrypted TimeCapsule (or any other hard drive), is the encrypted data stored in a "safe" encrypted format on TimeCapsule,
    yes. TM backs up the encrypted disk image with the filevaulted home directory. it's just as protected as the original.
    or is is the unencrypted clear text that is stored on the backup disk?
    Thank you!

  • Time machines encryption seen as 2 hard drives?

    Hello,
    i've two different hard drive where i do the time machine backup with encryption. I let time machine handle
    the entire disk and the encryption process. But everytime i unmount the drive, osx tell me that it is unmounting
    two partition and ask me to confirm it. Sometimes this doesn't work and i've to wait for minutes before unplugging
    the usb cable and it sais to me that the drive was unsecurely removed. The fact is that in both disk i just
    see one partition only, there is no trace of any other partition even from disk utility.
    This happens on both drives and a third drive did the same too. Any other with this boring problem?
    Thanks!

    I've found out that the problem occurs only after i do a backup. If i connect one of the drive but i unmount it before time machine start to backup, the problem doesn't occur. I've tried to do a timemachine backup while in safe mode but seems it never start, now i will try again. This is the result of the command via terminal on another disk, before and after the backup. Seems something is different at the beginning:
    BEFORE:
    /dev/disk0
       #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
       0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *500.1 GB   disk0
       1:                        EFI                         209.7 MB   disk0s1
       2:                  Apple_HFS Macintosh HD            499.2 GB   disk0s2
       3:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             650.0 MB   disk0s3
    /dev/disk1
       #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
       0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *500.1 GB   disk1
       1:                        EFI                         209.7 MB   disk1s1
       2:          Apple_CoreStorage                         499.7 GB   disk1s2
       3:                 Apple_Boot Boot OS X               134.2 MB   disk1s3
    /dev/disk2
       #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
       0:     Apple_partition_scheme                        *17.3 MB    disk2
       1:        Apple_partition_map                         32.3 KB    disk2s1
       2:                  Apple_HFS Flash Player            17.3 MB    disk2s2
    /dev/disk3
       #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
       0:                 Apple_HFSX MyPassport TM          *499.4 GB   disk3
    CoreStorage logical volume groups (1 found)
    |
    +-- Logical Volume Group 5BDE6D8D-43A4-4761-AE49-68EBBD712BD6
        =========================================================
        Name:         Backup
        Size:         499730309120 B (499.7 GB)
        Free Space:   0 B (0 B)
        |
        +-< Physical Volume 25D95AEC-E36A-416E-AE62-EFB7ED4D263A
        |   ----------------------------------------------------
        |   Index:    0
        |   Disk:     disk1s2
        |   Status:   Online
        |   Size:     499730309120 B (499.7 GB)
        |
        +-> Logical Volume Family 244B3518-FE91-4F56-91B8-BB02C58C6C0A
            Encryption Status:       Unlocked
            Encryption Type:         AES-XTS
            Conversion Status:       Complete
            Conversion Direction:    -none-
            Has Encrypted Extents:   Yes
            Fully Secure:            Yes
            Passphrase Required:     Yes
            |
            +-> Logical Volume 6B226218-53A0-4FEF-B5AE-F7EE6A9AFD43
                Disk:               disk3
                Status:             Online
                Size (Total):       499411537920 B (499.4 GB)
                Size (Converted):   -none-
                Revertible:         Yes (unlock and decryption required)
                LV Name:            MyPassport TM
                Volume Name:        MyPassport TM
                Content Hint:       Apple_HFSX
    AFTER:
    /dev/disk0
       #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
       0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *500.1 GB   disk0
       1:                        EFI                         209.7 MB   disk0s1
       2:                  Apple_HFS Macintosh HD            499.2 GB   disk0s2
       3:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             650.0 MB   disk0s3
    /dev/disk1
       #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
       0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *500.1 GB   disk1
       1:                        EFI                         209.7 MB   disk1s1
       2:          Apple_CoreStorage                         499.7 GB   disk1s2
       3:                 Apple_Boot Boot OS X               134.2 MB   disk1s3
    /dev/disk2
       #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
       0:                 Apple_HFSX MyPassport TM          *499.4 GB   disk2
    CoreStorage logical volume groups (1 found)
    |
    +-- Logical Volume Group 5BDE6D8D-43A4-4761-AE49-68EBBD712BD6
        =========================================================
        Name:         Backup
        Size:         499730309120 B (499.7 GB)
        Free Space:   0 B (0 B)
        |
        +-< Physical Volume 25D95AEC-E36A-416E-AE62-EFB7ED4D263A
        |   ----------------------------------------------------
        |   Index:    0
        |   Disk:     disk1s2
        |   Status:   Online
        |   Size:     499730309120 B (499.7 GB)
        |
        +-> Logical Volume Family 244B3518-FE91-4F56-91B8-BB02C58C6C0A
            Encryption Status:       Unlocked
            Encryption Type:         AES-XTS
            Conversion Status:       Complete
            Conversion Direction:    -none-
            Has Encrypted Extents:   Yes
            Fully Secure:            Yes
            Passphrase Required:     Yes
            |
            +-> Logical Volume 6B226218-53A0-4FEF-B5AE-F7EE6A9AFD43
                Disk:               disk2
                Status:             Online
                Size (Total):       499411537920 B (499.4 GB)
                Size (Converted):   -none-
                Revertible:         Yes (unlock and decryption required)
                LV Name:            MyPassport TM
                Volume Name:        MyPassport TM
                Content Hint:       Apple_HFSX

  • Creating Encrypted Time Machine Back Ups to a Network Hard Drive

    Hello all, I can't seem to create an encrypted Time Machine back up on a network hard drive.  Can this be done?  And if not, why not?  It seems that Macs have all the necessary functionality already available in Mac OS. Time Machine can create encrypted backups with multiple computers so what's the difference if it is to a network backup drive, honestly?  Any suggestions?
    My Set up:  Three Macs, Airport Extreme Base Station, Seagate 3 TB HD (with separate partitions for each computer's backups).  2 of the Macs use ethernet to connect to the network and one uses wireless regularly.  Basically, I'm trying to encrypt my family's backup drive and I don't know how or why I can't.
    Thanks in advance for the help.
    Appleguy514

    First, you need to know that backing-up that way is unreliable and not supported by Apple.   See:  Using Time Machine with an Airport Extreme Air Disk.
    Second, no, you cannot encrypt a network backup on Lion or earlier.  Only Mountain Lion.

  • How to re-access encryption option in Time Machine

    Can someone tell me how to change my Time Machine backups to encrypted backups? I declined encryption the first time, but on second thought, decided it would be a good idea. However, I am unable to access the encryption option again. Thanks.

    You'd have to erase and start over. To preserve your existing backups, copy them to another drive, then copy them back after encrypting.

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