Filevault

[eric/]

Do you use Filevault? If so, why or why not?

 

[Mr. Retrofire]

Do you use Filevault? If so, why or why not?

Depends on the machine and OS. On machines which support AES-NI (Sandy Bridge and newer) you should use FileVault. On all other machines AES-128 encrypted sparse disk images (create them with Disk Utility) are the better choice. AES-256 is much slower, and easier to crack than AES-128.

That being said, the key schedule for AES-256 is very poor. I would recommend that people use AES-128 and not AES-256.

http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2009/07/another_new_aes.html

 

[eric/]

Which machines support AES-NI?

The SB architecture would be the newer i5/i7 machines correct?

 

[Mr. Retrofire]

Which machines support AES-NI?

(Sandy Bridge and newer)

That means Early-2011 and newer hardware.

The SB architecture would be the newer i5/i7 machines correct?

Yes. SB is the 2nd generation of the Core i3, i5 and i7 processors.