Encrypting an external USB HDD

[Appletise]

my external USB HDD has been made both writeable and readable, I thought encrypting it was easy, I simply right clicked it in “Finder” and chose “Encrypt” put in the pw, but it then has a window that pops up and says: “A GUID Partition Table (GPT) partitioning scheme is required”
is this correct? If so how do I get the GPT for the external USB HDD? And does it make a difference to me saving files onto it, whether on pc or mac?


i read http://thetechjournal.com/how-to/tutorial-how-to-encrypt-external-drives-on-mac-os-x-lion.xhtml
and it says "Step 5: From dropdown menu choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled, Encrypted) and under Name type a name for your drive"

but l thought it had to be EX FAT to be compatible in both pc and mac? kindly enlighten me

thanks in advance

 

[Weaselboy]

So you have it in ExFAT format now? To use OS X built in disk encryption it will need to be in Mac OS Extended format. ExFAT won't work.

 

[Appletise]

So you have it in ExFAT format now? To use OS X built in disk encryption it will need to be in Mac OS Extended format. ExFAT won't work.

Mac OS Extended format, will that mean that my pc cant read or write on the HDD?

thanks

 

[FreakinEurekan]

Correct. If you need both Mac and Windows support, use a 3rd party encryption like TrueCrypt.

 

[Appletise]

thanks, so if want to read and write from the pw protected External HDD on a pc, l would need to transfer the files on my PW protected MacOS Extended format HDD onto computer, then erase the HDD and reformat it to EX FAT and transfer it back onto the EX FAT HDD from computer, so the exernal HDD be read and writeable on the pc?
is it not possible to just protect part of the external HDD, by having it in MacOS Extended format and rest in EX FAT format? l could create a pw disk image with files inside but that could be simply deleted.

thanks again

 

[Weaselboy]

thanks, so if want to read and write from the pw protected External HDD on a pc, l would need to transfer the files on my PW protected MacOS Extended format HDD onto computer, then erase the HDD and reformat it to EX FAT and transfer it back onto the EX FAT HDD from computer, so the exernal HDD be read and writeable on the pc?
is it not possible to just protect part of the external HDD, by having it in MacOS Extended format and rest in EX FAT format? l could create a pw disk image with files inside but that could be simply deleted.

thanks again

Sure... that would work just fine. Just make two partitions on the disk. One the Mac OS Extended one that you can encrypt and the other an ExFAT partition that is not encrypted and could bee read/write on both systems.

 

[FreakinEurekan]

l could create a pw disk image with files inside but that could be simply deleted.

So can partitions - encryption doesn't prevent against deletion, just against reading.