Hi. I have a 2012 Mac Mini, although this problem isn't specific to that. (But I don't know where else to post this.)
I have a WD USB3 portable HDD that I use as a second backup disk. It's not bootable, as this is just a backup of my files that I keep at an off-site location, as a backup of the backup. It's divided into two partitions (one for each of the drives I'm backing up). The disk itself is formatted as GUID, and each partition/volume is formatted as Mac OS Extended (journaled).
As an added level of security, I want to encrypt the drive. Nothing fancy, just the basic right-click, "encrypt this drive" thing from the finder. (It's mostly as a way to prevent casual snooping; I don't need CIA-grade security.)
So I right-click on the smaller volume and choose "Encrypt this disk." It works flawlessly.
I right click on the larger volume and choose "Encrypt this disk." As expected, it prompts for a password and password hint. Then it pops up this message: "A recovery system for the targeted disk is required" (and it won't let me encrypt the disk).
Uh huh? Both volumes are formatted exactly the same way, so why does it require this when I'm encrypting one of them, but not the other?
One other thing: when I look at the drives in Disk Utility, the one that I can encrypt appears has a HDD icon (just like "Macintosh HD"). The one I can't encrypt has a USB Drive icon. (Before encrypting, both had USB icons.) I don't know if that's an issue or not, but I'm tossing it out there...
So how do I get around this? Ideally, I don't want to have to reformat and repartition the disk yet again. And I don't need a recovery disk. Help!
I have a WD USB3 portable HDD that I use as a second backup disk. It's not bootable, as this is just a backup of my files that I keep at an off-site location, as a backup of the backup. It's divided into two partitions (one for each of the drives I'm backing up). The disk itself is formatted as GUID, and each partition/volume is formatted as Mac OS Extended (journaled).
As an added level of security, I want to encrypt the drive. Nothing fancy, just the basic right-click, "encrypt this drive" thing from the finder. (It's mostly as a way to prevent casual snooping; I don't need CIA-grade security.)
So I right-click on the smaller volume and choose "Encrypt this disk." It works flawlessly.
I right click on the larger volume and choose "Encrypt this disk." As expected, it prompts for a password and password hint. Then it pops up this message: "A recovery system for the targeted disk is required" (and it won't let me encrypt the disk).
Uh huh? Both volumes are formatted exactly the same way, so why does it require this when I'm encrypting one of them, but not the other?
One other thing: when I look at the drives in Disk Utility, the one that I can encrypt appears has a HDD icon (just like "Macintosh HD"). The one I can't encrypt has a USB Drive icon. (Before encrypting, both had USB icons.) I don't know if that's an issue or not, but I'm tossing it out there...
So how do I get around this? Ideally, I don't want to have to reformat and repartition the disk yet again. And I don't need a recovery disk. Help!