FDE with SSD and Regular Drive?

[Ambrosia7177]

I have a MBP 9.2 from around 2013, and am considering buying a similar one so I can finally try out a SSD along with a regular HDD.

The SSD would be for the OS and Apps.

The HDD would be for data.

Is there a way to do full-disk encryption on that entire setup?

One of the main reasons I didn't want to try a SSD was for fear that I could not do encryption as easily as with a conventional hard-drive.

And it seems hard to believe you could have FDE on a SSD/HDD combo, but who knows?!

 

[glenthompson]

Why not put everything on the SSD? Prices have dropped enough to make it worthwhile to get the space you need. No problem running encryption on a SSD, why did you think that would be a problem? Almost all Macs now come with a SSD.

 

[Weaselboy]

The SSD would be for the OS and Apps.

The HDD would be for data.

Is there a way to do full-disk encryption on that entire setup?

Sure... just get the disks installed and everything where you want it then go to the Security & Privacy pane in System Preferences and turn on FileVault. That will encrypt the SSD. Once that is done, just right click on the HDD and select "Encrypt" and follow the prompts. Once the HDD is encrypted eject it then unplug and plug in again and you will be prompted for the encryption password. In that window there is a checkbox to remember the password in Keychain. Check that box and enter the password. Now once you boot to the SSD the HDD will automatically be mounted.

You can data on the HDD with this setup, but you cannot keep the users folder there. You will need to keep that on the SSD, then you can keep individual data like Documents etc on the HDD if you like.

The SSD actually works better (faster) with encryption that a HDD, so you will be good.

 

[Ambrosia7177]

Sure... just get the disks installed and everything where you want it then go to the Security & Privacy pane in System Preferences and turn on FileVault. That will encrypt the SSD. Once that is done, just right click on the HDD and select "Encrypt" and follow the prompts. Once the HDD is encrypted eject it then unplug and plug in again and you will be prompted for the encryption password.

I am not exactly following your "unplug and plug in" comment.

Since the HDD would be a secondary internal drive, couldn't you just reboot and accomplish the same thing?

In that window there is a checkbox to remember the password in Keychain. Check that box and enter the password. Now once you boot to the SSD the HDD will automatically be mounted.

Is it safe to use the keychain for storing really sensitive things like your encryption keys?

Seems like that could be hacked fairly easily.

You can data on the HDD with this setup, but you cannot keep the users folder there. You will need to keep that on the SSD, then you can keep individual data like Documents etc on the HDD if you like.

So a secondary internal HDD would be more like an external drive and not a place just for data inside your user account?
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Why not put everything on the SSD? Prices have dropped enough to make it worthwhile to get the space you need. No problem running encryption on a SSD, why did you think that would be a problem? Almost all Macs now come with a SSD.

Well, I have these reservations...

1.) From what I know, a HDD is much more reliable than a SSD. After all, a SSD is just a big Flash drive, right? I have know lots of friends who have lost lots of photographs because their SD Flash cards in their cameras crashed.

2.) In my current I have a 1 TB HDD. Do they make SSD that big or bigger? I was hoping to have at least 1 TB on this new laptop and maybe even more?

3.) Is a SSD as secure as a HDD? I have a lot of sensitive things like my business and taxes on my current MBP, and I need a solution that will protect my data from ever super smart hackers and crooks.

 

[Weaselboy]

I am not exactly following your "unplug and plug in" comment.

Since the HDD would be a secondary internal drive, couldn't you just reboot and accomplish the same thing?

I'm sorry... yes. I had it in my brain the HDD was on an external USB bus.

Is it safe to use the keychain for storing really sensitive things like your encryption keys?

Seems like that could be hacked fairly easily.

Keychain is safe to store whatever you want in it. I have never read of anybody being able to hack OS X Keychain.

So a secondary internal HDD would be more like an external drive and not a place just for data inside your user account?

Functionally yes. There is a way to actually move your home folder to another drive (here), but that won't work with this setup because the second drive is encrypted. So you can place any folder in the user account on the HDD, just not the account it self.

Well, I have these reservations...

1.) From what I know, a HDD is much more reliable than a SSD. After all, a SSD is just a big Flash drive, right? I have know lots of friends who have lost lots of photographs because their SD Flash cards in their cameras crashed.

2.) In my current I have a 1 TB HDD. Do they make SSD that big or bigger? I was hoping to have at least 1 TB on this new laptop and maybe even more?

3.) Is a SSD as secure as a HDD? I have a lot of sensitive things like my business and taxes on my current MBP, and I need a solution that will protect my data from ever super smart hackers and crooks.

1. It is a big flash drive, but much better quality chips and controllers that cheap SD cards, so much more reliable.

2. I saw an article about some company that was coming out with 3TB SSDs, but I have not noticed them for sale anywhere. I think 1TB is the most common size you will see sold, and even that is kind of pricey.

3. An SSD is actually more secure than a HDD. Of course you want to have external backups no matter what drive you use.

What you could do is set the SSD/HDD as a Fusion drive. Then the system would see it as one drive and you could encrypt the whole thing with FileVault.

 

[Ambrosia7177]

1. It is a big flash drive, but much better quality chips and controllers that cheap SD cards, so much more reliable.

Do you think a 1TB SSD is comparable to a 1 TB HDD as far as reliability goes?

I use CCC about once a week, so I am covered there, but I still just have this uneasy feeling about SSDs...

3. An SSD is actually more secure than a HDD. Of course you want to have external backups no matter what drive you use.

Why is it more secure?

What you could do is set the SSD/HDD as a Fusion drive. Then the system would see it as one drive and you could encrypt the whole thing with FileVault.

Can you use Fusion with two SSD's?

How reliable is Fusion? I would hate to have it become corrupt and then lose all of my data across two SSDs!

 

[Weaselboy]

Do you think a 1TB SSD is comparable to a 1 TB HDD as far as reliability goes?

I use CCC about once a week, so I am covered there, but I still just have this uneasy feeling about SSDs...

I think SSDs are inherently more reliable because there are no moving parts inside at all. If you think about a HDD, you have motor in their spinning a disk around all day every day and heads moving back and forth across the drive surface all the time.

Why is it more secure?

Because of the way an SSD stores data on the NAND chips inside it makes it harder to recover once deleted.

Can you use Fusion with two SSD's?

I have never seen anybody do that, but there is no reason you couldn't I guess.

How reliable is Fusion? I would hate to have it become corrupt and then lose all of my data across two SSDs!

I have not seen anybody having issues with Fusion corruption and it seems to be very reliable. The only weakness I suppose is if either of the two drives fails, the entire Fusion drive is dead. But as long as you have good backups, I don't see the problem.

 

[AustinIllini]

Can you use Fusion with two SSD's?

How reliable is Fusion? I would hate to have it become corrupt and then lose all of my data across two SSDs!

Not sure how this would help. Unless it's miraculously cheaper, just go with a big SSD and swap it out. Super Duper is super easy.

 

[Ambrosia7177]

Not sure how this would help. Unless it's miraculously cheaper, just go with a big SSD and swap it out. Super Duper is super easy.

Because last I looked, a 1 TB SSD was like $350, and i saw some 2 TB SSD for like $4,000!!!!

As far as why I want one image/partition/whatever to work from? Because it just seems more natural to be working from one place. Then again, maybe it doesn't matter.

I think for now a 1 TB SSD will do, but then I can remember when I couldn't imagine filling up a 120 GB HDD!
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I have not seen anybody having issues with Fusion corruption and it seems to be very reliable. The only weakness I suppose is if either of the two drives fails, the entire Fusion drive is dead. But as long as you have good backups, I don't see the problem.

That would be like running RAID 1, right?

Probably not a great proposition, plus there is the issue of how would you back up a 2 TB partition if you are using an external SSD/HDD?

Fusion probably is not for me.