Few questions with using CCC and FleVault 2

[MacBH928]

I never tried this encryption before and I would like some help. I have few questions about FileVault 2 and Carbon Copy Cloner

1) I read that I can use filevault 2 to encrypt an external hard-drive but I have to install a Recovery HD on it , if I want it to be bootable . If I do not do that, will I still be able to access the HDD? Why do I need a recovery HD?

2) Can I encrypt an external HDD , but not my laptop's hdd , and then use Carbon Copy Cloner to do backups?? Or if my Laptop's HDD is not encrypted neither my back HDD will be?

3) Will encrypting my HDD give me issues later when I buy a new computer and decide to use Migration Assistant?

is there anything else I should worry about?

 

[Weaselboy]

Firstly, don't worry about using FV2 with CCC, it is transparent and does impact CCC usage. It sounds like you are mixing terms a bit though. FV2 is what you would enable in the Security pane of your Mac to encrypt your entire, internal drive. When you boot and enter your password, the FV2 "vault" is opened and from then on CCC and anything else sees the internal as just another drive. So when I answer your questions here, I am not going to talk much about FV2, since it is not very relevant to what you are trying to do with CCC.

1. If you have data on an external drive and you just want to encrypt the disk, just right click on the disk in Finder and select encrypt and pick a PW. That's it. Then when you try to mount the drive next in Finder you will be asked for the PW. This has nothing to do with CCC. If you use CCC, it will put a Recovery HD partition on the backup drive so it is bootable. If you just want to encrypt the contents of an external drive and do not care if it is bootable, you don't need to copy over a recovery partition.

2. You can encrypt both or either in any combination.*

3. No issue, but you will have the extra step of unlocking the encrypted backup drive before you can migrate from it.

* If you choose to encrypt CCC backups, you can from a setting in the app, and this is different than the right click to encrypt a disk I mentioned earlier.

As an aside, Time Machine will already do most of what you are after here. It will make a full copy of your internal drive and can be encrypted. The big benefit of CCC is that copy or "clone" can be booted from and used to actually run the computer from the cloned drive. Whereas, an external Time Machine drive can also be option key booted to and used for a full restore to say a replacement internal disk, but you cannot operate the computer from a Time Machine disk alone. If the ability to actually run from the external for a period if an internal drive dies is important to you, then by all means use CCC. If that is not a feature that is important to you, you can accomplish what you want with the included Time Machine software.

 

[MacBH928]

Thanks for the very clear reply , it was very helpful

I like to use CCC because I am comfortable with it and its clear what it does for me. Time Machine seems so automated I am not sure what is going on.

I wanted to originally ask, I have a backup disk from an old iMac '02 (G4) running Tiger , will encryption and CCC work with this too? (I know I cant boot from it on intel macs, but I do access files stored on it)

 

[Weaselboy]

I wanted to originally ask, I have a backup disk from an old iMac '02 (G4) running Tiger , will encryption and CCC work with this too? (I know I cant boot from it on intel macs, but I do access files stored on it)

Interesting question. Tiger used HFS+ format just like we do now with Mountain Lion, so I don't see why it would not work, but can't say that I have tried it.