FileVault + Backups = ?

[Benjamindaines]

I would like to enable FileVault on my MacBook, but I have two big questions.

One, I use SuperDuper! to clone my hard drive to a back up, obviously the clone would keep the encryption but would I be able to access the data on the external hard drive booted from my MacBook incase I need to replace a file? Or would I need to boot to the external? Also if something goes wrong with my login can I log into another Admin account, put in my master password and get to my files that way?

Two, I have heard people say that after enabling FileVault Spotlight no longer can search anything in their home directory. Would this happen even when I'm logged into the account? It seems pretty useless if I can't even use Spotlight to find anything in my home directory, after all that's where everything is.

--Thank you for you time.

 

[mad jew]

Spotlight should still work with FileVault encrypted Home folders. However, I find FileVault is buggy at best. There are a tonne of threads here and on the Apple Discussions forums about people losing data because of FileVault. I strongly recommend that instead of using FileVault, you create a sparse encrypted disk image and keep the data you need kept safe on that image. 🙂