FileVault

[iNerd]

Is the FileVault really necasarry, what does it really accomplish, who here uses FileVault?

 

[stoid]

Government.

Anyone with sensitive data. I think that if you boot from a different drive then your home folder becomes accessible to anyone with an admin password to the boot drive if the files aren't encrypted by FileVault.

 

[rainman::|:|]

Yeah, it's for people with very sensitive data, either corporate or government users mostly. I turned it on for a while, mostly to play with it, and it is indeed transparent-- you don't even know it's running, unless you try to access that account while booted from another OS X volume. But, it royally screwed up my automated backups, because the compressed file that contains your home folder is hidden deep in the system... so i wound up turning it off.

Bottom line: if you have to ask, you probably don't need it.

paul

 

[zakee00]

dont turn it on unless you need it....it makes you sit and wait while it encrypts your home folder sometimes when you log out. im sure its great if you need it, but i dont so i dont care for it. good feature though.

 

[Jason_Bryan]

I use file vault on both my iBook and PowerMac. As a therapist I have have to write reports containing personal information about my clients. Before File Vault it ment messing about with disk Utility or similar apps. Now it is all done for me without me having to think about it.

 

[yamabushi]

It may be helpful to leave some media files unencrypted outside of your home folder. Compressed audio and video files may not play very well if they are also encrypted as this tasks the cpu very heavily.

 

[superbovine]

if you just have a few files that you want to keep encrypted just make an encrypted dmg.

 

[MoparShaha]

if you just have a few files that you want to keep encrypted just make an encrypted dmg.

I find this to be the best method. Honestly, encrypting the entire home directory just seems like overkill.