Totally clueless here: password protecting external drive for TM?
Hi guys,
sorry I'm really ignorant on the point and I hope you will help me.
I have an ibookg4 with 10.5.1...I'm the only user of my mac but I have the mac asking for username and password everytime it runs so to protect my data from other people.
Now, I bought a very simple Lacie hard drive for backingup with TM. The question is: can now some people take the Lacie hard drive, log it into their macs (or pc too?) and simply surf through all my data? Because in that way my password protection on my ibook would be totally useless...
I don't wanna have people having access to the data on my mac. The data on my backup are safe? If not, how can I protect them.
Sorry for my ignorance
Currently there is no password protection or encryption supported for Time Machine (TM). So the simple solution is to disconnect the drive and use physical protection such as putting it in a locked box. However, you can use File Vault in OS X to encrypt your home directory, and those files are backed up by TM in the protected format.
See
http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=2007111404402514
for some more related information.
Before using it, you might want to learn details about file vault by using help on the Finder and also by doing a websearch. Do remember those password(s) when you use it, and when the next major release (e.g., 10.6) happens, you may want to consider an unencrypted bootable back up (back up with Carbon Copy Cloner or similar after turning off file vault) to move the data to the new system.
Similar Messages
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Possible? Password protecting external drives
Is it possible to make all external drives password protected to make changes to, or even access? I can't find anything obvious particularly in "disc utility" or elsewhere.
Thanks, ChrisNo, OS X provides no such facility. You can get third-party software that can do that. Look for it at VersionTracker or MacUpdate.
What you can do instead is to create an encrypted disc image using Disk Utility and put the image on the external drive. Then move whatever you want secured onto the disc image file. Delete the originals. When the disc image is mounted it will require a password to access whatever is stored on it. If you want to be able read and write data on the disc image then make it a read/write image file when you create it. -
I'm trying to find an external drive for the MacPro that will allow me to password protect the external drive in case it is taken. Any suggestions on a very reliable one that is 2TB or a third party software that is compatable with the need I describe?
How much of a hurry are you in, and are you considering upgrading to Lion?
File Vault on Snow Leopard only encrypts home folders you select, and doesn't work well with Time Machine.
But Lion will have "full disk encryption" of local or external disks. See File Vault 2 here: http://www.apple.com/macosx/whats-new/features.html -
Hello
I bought my wife a new MacBook Pro, in setting it up for her, I took her Time Machine external drive to migrate onto the new machine but her old MBP not only was on 10.6, it was my old machine which I was still Administrator for.
i plugged in the external drive to start the migration process after entering her name and username from the old machine which gave me the options on transferring the old data over.
I also unchecked the Administrative end that had my info hoping that ONLY her data, files, etc., would be the ones sent over to her new machine which I wanted her to be the ONLY Administrator for. All went like clockwork until the restart.
Normally the screen should show the username and only need the password but both entries were blank, as in ‘Other’ sign in option available only. I entered her name and password, nothing….used her username and password, nothing. Used my old Administrator name and password, NOTHING!
I tried defaulting to factory settings from the Restore feature but it directs me to notify Apple. I tried in Terminal to change the password, nothing. I tried to boot from MY external drive and it doesn’t recognize it. I tried to even use my external drive which actually has the Mavericks upgrade, nothing!
Basically I can only get the startup screen which isn’t accepting the username/password or the Restore feature which doesn’t offer any options helpful!
Please, how do I start from scratch and start over here? Or simply change the Administrator name and password so I can proceed with everything thats already on there? I wish I could even boot from another drive but no luck on anything!First, on the old machine, make your wife's account an admin one. Log into it and delete yours. Then, update the TM backup. Finally, use Internet recovery mode, ⌘⌥R, erase the HD, and restore the OS. One first boot, follow the steps outlined in Pondini's Setup New Mac guide.
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Password Protected External hard drive
I have a password protected external hard drive that I want to format so I can give it to a friend. When you format the drive does the password protection also get erased? Is there anything essential that I need to know before doing this? Thanks for your help!
Welcome to Apple Discussions!
If it's a WD MyBook, I'm not sure. I formatted and partitioned a MyBook for a friend, but was never able to get rid of the password protection so we just left it. It may be possible to do it, but I don't know how. Definitely check it out, and if the password is still required, be sure to pass it on to your friend.
Good luck! -
How can I force Time Machine to make a complete backup of my Hard Drive. I just installed a new external drive for Backup since my previous one failed. Now when I back up, Time Machine only backs up my data folder and the Users folder.
When I start a backup. Time Machine says "Oldest Backup: None; Latest Backup: None", so it seems like it should do a complete backup, but it only does a partial.Hi I'd like to jump in here. Your app showed me this:
Time Machine:
Skip System Files: NO
Mobile backups: OFF
Auto backup: YES
Volumes being backed up:
Macintosh HD: Disk size: 749.3 GB Disk used: 453.81 GB
Destinations:
Plastic Wrapper [Local] (Last used)
Total size: 999.86 GB
Total number of backups: 64
Oldest backup: 2013-07-24 23:25:11 +0000
Last backup: 2013-11-17 01:40:47 +0000
Size of backup disk: Too small
Backup size 999.86 GB < (Disk used 453.81 GB X 3)
Time Machine details may not be accurate.
All volumes being backed up may not be listed.
/sbin excluded from backup!
/usr excluded from backup!
/System excluded from backup!
/bin excluded from backup!
/private excluded from backup!
/Library excluded from backup!
/Applications excluded from backup!
Aside from the size of my backup drive, which I will increase at some point, I'd really like to have time machine backing up all system folders, especially Applications. How to I reset this hidden exclusions?
Thanks,
Darcy -
I would like to know if you have to back up a macbook hard drive, can I use a external hard drive that has been previously used to back up several pc 's, or is it best to have a separate external drive for the Mac?
In the Mac side of things, backups usually come in two flavors: clones or incrementals.
A bootable clone is a bit-for-bit copy of all essential files in the startup volume. If using the Lions, clones can be made using CarbonCopyCloner or just plain old Disk Utility. These backups represent the safest protection of your info, but take the longest to do. Recovery is an inverse process: you copy the clone back into the internal drive.
Incremental backups start with a complete backup of the startup volume and only copy whatever changed from the previous run. OS X includes the fully integrated Time Machine backup utility to do this. It is extremely easy to do and takes the least amount of time. Recovery is another matter altogether since you have to start with a freshly installed instance of the OS and have to apply all intervening backups to bring the result to the latest saved version.
As for where the backup takes place, the recommended media is an external dedicated drive or drives connected via the fastest interface available on your Mac: Thunderbolt, USB3, Firewire, or USB2. Network-based backups, wired or wireless, are attractive but may not offer the same performance and hence take longer. Also important to note that the entire drive need not be completely dedicated to a single backup. The Mac's EFI firmware infrastructure allows for an unlimited number of partitions on a hard drive and each can be used for either type of backups.
Holler if you need specifics on how to do each. This was just an executive summary. -
I've used an external drive for time machine which has important files on it. After trying to back up my computer, it suddenly needed to be "repaired" by utilities. Now it's not being "seen" at all! How do I recover my important files off the drive?
If the external drive can be seen at all in Disk Utility, follow the instructions for repair here.
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Can i use my external drive for TM and files i don't want on my mac HD
my hard drive has a total of 232.57g which is not nearly enough space to save all my pictures, movies, etc. i've been using a 300g external drive to save my pictures, movies, etc. which is now full so i bought a maxtor one touch 4 750g to hopefully back up my computer using time machine, my 300g external drive, and whatever new pictures, movies, etc.
if i set up my new external drive for time machine can i still put the pictures, movies from my 300g external drive and whatever new pictures, movies, etc. on my new 750g external drive?
do i need to make a partition? if so can you tell me how?
should i not use time machine?
any information is appreciatedmac HD
capacity: 232.57g
available: 170.29g
iomega
capacity: 298.02g
available: 14.29g
one touch 4
capacity: 698.51g
available: 698.36g
thanks for the quick reply but i need to explain it better or ask, once all is backed up from my mac HD and my iomega external drive to my new one touch 4 i want to stop using the iomega since there isn't much room left on it
will i be able to add files directly to the one touch 4 without having those files saved to my mac HD like i do now?
or will TM remove my files the next time it backs up my mac HD since i won't have the iomega on anymore? -
How to best partition an external drive for my purposes?
Hello, please help,
I've just bought a Western Digital 'My Passport' 320Gb USB (no firewire) portable external harddrive for backing up my data prior to iMac repair.
I also plan to totally wipe my PPC iMac and reinstall it with Leopard.
I erased the external HD, zeroing out the data from it's previous owner, and reformatted it as Mac OS Extended (not journaled).
Now I realise that it might be even more useful than I'd imagined.
I'd now like to partition it so I can use Carbon Copy Cloner to create a bootable copy of my entire iMac while using the rest of the drive as a separate partition for just backing up data.
Ideally I want to be able to use the drive on both Intel and PPC Macs and even PCs, is this possible? How should I format the drive to achieve this?
I've heard I should format it as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) HFS+, what ever that is
I'm currently running OS 10.4.11 but plan to buy Leopard and install that after the wipe.17" 1.9Ghz iMac G5 (iSight)
I've just bought a Western Digital 'My Passport' 320Gb USB (no firewire)
I'd now like to partition it so I can use Carbon Copy Cloner to create a bootable copy of my entire iMac while using the rest of the drive as a separate partition for just backing up data.
Ideally I want to be able to use the drive on both Intel and PPC Macs and even PCs, is this possible? How should I format the drive to achieve this?
For what you want to do, there is a mismatch between your PPC computer and the external drive that you bought.
With a few exceptions, a PPC Mac requires a firewire external drive for booting and will not boot from a USB drive, regardless of which OS is installed and regardless of the partition scheme and volume format on the drive. I also have an iMac G5, and mine will not boot from USB.
If you do exchange your drive for a firewire drive, do not get another Western Digital model to use with your G5 - many external WD firewire drives will not boot a PPC mac. See [this page|http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc.cfg/php/enduser/stdadp.php?pfaqid=1787]
If you want to keep your present USB drive, you can still partition it with one partition for a backup clone and another for "other stuff". With respect to immediate use for recovering your stuff after a clean Leopard install on the HD, I think that Migration Assistant will still work, though I haven't tried this. As for the future, the problems with a clone not being bootable are 1) You can't test it to see if it works OK, and 2) If you do need to restore from it you'd need to boot from "somewhere else" - I think you could boot from an install disk and use Disk Utility's Restore feature to clone it back.
With regard to PC access, a PPC mac normally requires an Apple Partition Map partition scheme on the drive for booting, and such a scheme does not allow for the FAT32 volume format that is readable by PCs. However in this case since your PPC mac can't boot from it anyway, you could partition the drive as GUID. This would allow the main volume to be formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) for the nonbootable clone, and would allow the extra volume to be formatted as FAT32. If you eventually got an Intel Mac, a clone from it to the main volume would also then be bootable.
But what I would do, if feasible, is exchange the USB drive and get a non-WD firewire drive instead.
Message was edited by: jsd2 -
Which external drive for backups?
My brand new 21.5" iMac is on its way here today, and I've been told to buy an external drive for backups. Which I think is a great idea. However, my head's starting to hurt from all the info I'm reading here on the forum about WHICH one, Firewire cables, etc etc. The Rocstor 500GB has been recommended to me personally, but I've read about Lacie and a few other brands. I'm thinking it'd be best to get a 1T size. But WHICH HARD DRIVE SHOULD I GET? I don't wanna spend a lot of bucks!!!
Plus I have a Firewire cable but how do I know if it's a 2 or a 4? I bought it when I migrated data from my Silver edition iMac to my G4 iMac back in 2004 or 2005.
Thanks!Congratulations Sheryl on the new iMac.
I recently replaced a G-4 tower with an iMac. The G-4 had a port for Firewire 400. The iMac came equipped with one Firewire 800 port a firewire cable and 4USB ports. I suspect that also applies to your new machine. In order to transfer files from one machine to the other using Firewire 400/800 I had to buy an adapter from the Apple store. Your help menu will explain how to set up the iMac as a target for the transfer.
As to backup: I use Super Duper and over 8 years had backed up religiously to a Lacie external HD. About the time I needed to use it as a file transfer source to the iMac it quit.
After much study and considering how Time Machine can eat up space I settled on the external hard drives described below - all were partitioned. The Drobo uses firewire 800 and 4 multiple internal hard drives. It is the place where time machine is backed up. The setup was about $600.
The two lacie hard drives are USB 2.0 driven.
I have learned the hard way that it pays to backup the backups.
If I could only have one external hard drive and with all things considered I would opt for the 1TB Lacie Stark (about $125) that is USB driven.
Sure hope this helps a bit. To help further we need to know more specifics about your need.
Mcthomas -
Formatting external drive for storage/backup/video files
Hi,
I just purchased a 500mb My Book Pro external drive for use with my imac duo which runs Windows XP via bootcamp. This computer is shared by three family with very different skills and needs. My dilemma. I want to format the drive so that the imac can be backed up easily three users. It is formated Fat32 and is supplied with Restrospect Express 7.5 backup software. It would be nice to backup the modestly used windows sector, but that's a secondary consideration. My problem is that one user has a lot of larger than 4 gb video files which are too large the Fat 32 format. My notion is to segment the backup drive so that I leave 300 mb in fat 32 to facilitate backup with supplied software, and segment a second 200 gb drive using mac os extended so that the user can manually move her video files for storage/backup on the backup drive. Is there a simpler solution? For example, if I formatted the entire 500gb as mac os extended, could I still run the retrospect backup software? If not, is there a reasonably priced alternative software? And finally, with either Fat32 or Mac OS extended, can I move files from the Windows platform? Would I be better off just biting the bullet and telling my daughter to make her own arrangements to compress and backup her video files or get her own hard drive, thus leaving the backup drive to the simple factory supplied software solution?
G-4 and iMac core duo Mac OS X (10.4.9) use emacs and imacs at work locationHi,
I just purchased a 500mb My Book Pro external drive
for use with my imac duo which runs Windows XP via
bootcamp. This computer is shared by three family
with very different skills and needs. My dilemma. I
want to format the drive so that the imac can be
backed up easily three users. It is formated Fat32
and is supplied with Restrospect Express 7.5 backup
software. It would be nice to backup the modestly
used windows sector, but that's a secondary
consideration. My problem is that one user has a lot
of larger than 4 gb video files which are too large
the Fat 32 format. My notion is to segment the backup
drive so that I leave 300 mb in fat 32 to facilitate
backup with supplied software, and segment a second
200 gb drive using mac os extended so that the user
can manually move her video files for storage/backup
on the backup drive. Is there a simpler solution? For
example, if I formatted the entire 500gb as mac os
extended, could I still run the retrospect backup
software? If not, is there a reasonably priced
alternative software? And finally, with either Fat32
or Mac OS extended, can I move files from the Windows
platform? Would I be better off just biting the
bullet and telling my daughter to make her own
arrangements to compress and backup her video files
or get her own hard drive, thus leaving the backup
drive to the simple factory supplied software
solution?
G-4 and iMac
core duo Mac OS X (10.4.9) use emacs
and imacs at work location
Hello,
You're indeed in a pickle. If you use Bootcamp and want the HD accessible via the Mac and WinXP, then you don't want to format it as Mac HFS because WInXP wouldn't be able to access it. If you go FAT32 then both WInXP and Mac OS can access it, but you face the dilemma of the 4GB threshold.
If you format as NTFS, then you eliminate the 4GB threshold but then Mac OS cannot access it.
I have a similar dilemma, which is why i use Parallels more than Bootcamp. I have 2 external FW HD's (160GB/250GB), both formatted to Mac HFS. The 160GB i have partitioned as 50GB and 100GB. I have a bootable backup of Mac OS residing on the 100GB partition (yay to SuperDuper!) and some other stuff on the remaining 50GB. The 250GB is exclusive for movies (cough..cough..bittorrent) and for streaming via Orb 2.0 to my Treo. I have WinXP running in Parallels, and Vista Ultimate via Bootcamp. In Parallels, i can access my external HD's via Parallel's Shared Folders but in Vista (Bootcamp) since the HD's are in a non-Windows recognised formatting, they're not accessible (which is a bummer, as i'm loving Win media center).
What you can do is partition the HD the way you're thinking and format (one part Mac HFS and the other NTFS), but my best recommendation is that with the falling prices of HD's nowadays, why not just get a seperate HD do what you want with it. I spied a WD MyBook 500GB USB HD at CompUSA for $129.99 (no mail-in rebate nonsense) and similar good prices at Bestbuy and Newegg.com.
iMac 17" 2GHZ C2Duo 2GB RAM 160GB HD Mac OS X (10.4.9) -
I got an old Apple G5 shell from Goodwill. I'd like to salvage the Superdrive and use it as an external drive for my Apple laptop. Is this possible, and what cables would I need if so?
Other info is available:
Superdrive MFG date: Sept 2009
Model: DVR-118LBK DVD-R/RW Writer Unit
My Macbook is: Mid-2010, running Mavericks
Thanks in advance, God bless!That's a nice Pioneer DVD±RW drive - and an upgraded replacement for the original optical drive that shipped with that G5. For a finished look, you'd want to install it in an external enclosure for 5.25" IDE/ATAPI drives that converts it to USB connectivity. Because SATA optical drives have replaced ATAPI drives in recent years, the selection is getting more limited for a new enclosure, although used ones can undoubtedly be found at ebay. Here's an example of one, although it only features USB connectivity. You can also find enclosures that have both FireWire and USB connectivity, which for Mac users is beneficial. Booting the computer (if needed) by a FireWire-connected device is generally more reliable than USB booting. If this isn't important to you, then a USB-only enclosure would be adequate. The enclosure will have directions, but essentially all you need to do is plug in the power cable and data ribbon cable and then secure the drive to the bottom plate of the enclosure with the included machine screws.
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Using external drive for MacBook that was previously used for PC
I can't be the only person who'd had this issue...but I can't seem to find anything about this problem.
I have an external drive that I was using for my iTunes library on my PC. I recently upgraded to a MacBook. I was hoping to continue using my external drive for my iTunes library. When I plugged the external drive into the MacBook, it characteristically made my life very easy by quickly setting up itunes for me. It wasn't until the next day I realized that my entire library had been copied from the external drive onto the MacBook hard drive. This was not my intention.
It seems, however, that though my nifty new MacBook can easily read and use any files from my old external drive, it absolutely will not write to the external drive. In fact, even though I've repeatedly changed my iTunes settings to use the external drive for the iTunes library, it continues to write CD's onto the Macbook hard drive.
sigh
I'm very worried that:
1. I've now used 4 of my 5 "authorized" machines
2. I've used another move that I can make with the music I've purchased on iTunes and I will now have to use yet another move in order to make this right
3. I fear if I back up my music now, because of 1 & 2 I will lose my rights to some of my music.
If anyone has any help for any of these issues I would be very grateful! This is my first Apple in about 20 years, so be gentle!martinifontaine wrote:
It seems, however, that though my nifty new MacBook can easily read and use any files from my old external drive, it absolutely will not write to the external drive.
i'm guessing this is a NTSF formatted drive. in order for your Mac to write to it, you need to install e.g. NTFS-3G
In fact, even though I've repeatedly changed my iTunes settings to use the external drive for the iTunes library, it continues to write CD's onto the Macbook hard drive.
above will probably take care of that
I'm very worried that:
1. I've now used 4 of my 5 "authorized" machines
you can deauthorize the PC if no longer in use. also, once you've reached the "5-computer" limit, you get the option (once per year) to *deauthorize all*, then reauthorize those in use. click here for information.
2. I've used another move that I can make with the music I've purchased on iTunes and I will now have to use yet another move in order to make this right
not sure what you mean by move.
3. I fear if I back up my music now, because of 1 & 2 I will lose my rights to some of my music.
no. you can transfer purchased content between authorized machines as much as you want. see _*iTunes for Mac: How to copy purchases between computers*_.
JGG -
I have the G Drive 1 TB (GEN4 1TB) external drive purchased in 2010. I need to connect to my new MacBook Pro. I'm using the external drive for media storage of my video editing projects. Will a 800fw to thunderbolt adapter cable work? I understand that using a USB port connection is not fast enough for video editing. I read somewhere the G Drives don't connect well to MacBook Pro.
thanks
larryI doubt this can be relocated or moved so you might want to just repost in the macbook pro area.
MacBook Pro
https://discussions.apple.com/community/notebooks/macbook_pro
https://discussions.apple.com/community/mac_os?view=discussions
Can you afford a new Thunderbolt case and cable? any case with FW800 is going to be slow 72MB/sec and less, and any new 1TB drive is capable of 75MB/s minimum up to 125MB/sec.
Thunderbolt storage can of course when setup properly reach 100's of MB higher using multiple drives.
Use what you have for a system backup or for secondary backup storage.
you might be able to take the drive - most cases allow you to open and swap drives - and use this:
G-Technology 1TB G-DRIVE mini High-Speed Portable Hard Drive
or this:
http://store.apple.com/us/product/HB137VC/A/g-technology-4tb-g-raid-professional -high-performance-dual-drive-hard-drive?fnode=5f
Maybe you are looking for
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I've seen some posts that discuss similar but not exact problems. Here's the story: Hadn't logged onto iTunes since I moved in April. I now live with a roommate who already has broadband internet via a different ISP than the one I was using prior to
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