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Hiding my porn, i mean private files

A

ag55

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 14, 2009
225
0
I have some files i need to hide, some are folders and some are files. Its not porn:) -- just some folders like recycler, sys volume info, number strings on my external usb drive which i dont want to look at.

How can i hide multiple files?
Windows equivalent of 'make hidden'
 
Making them "dot files" (files that begin with a ".") will cause Finder to hide them. You will need to use Terminal to both rename and access these files though.

I would suggest a deeply nested directory instead to hide the porn private files. You can also disable Spotlight and Time Machine from searching and archiving the folder (and then lock these panels in the System Preferences to prevent anyone from seeing what is blocked).

celticpride678's suggestion of a protected disk image is the best suggestion though.
 
celticpride678 said:
You can always password protect it by using a disk image created by Disk Utility. Might also be the easiest way.
Click to expand...

I agree, this would probably be easiest way to protect them.

Disk Utility>New Image>Encryption
Set to 128-bit AES
Volume Size:
Set it to how much space you'll need
Then hit create and enter your password, but make sure to uncheck "Remember password in my keychain".

Once it is done, highlight it and then hit Command+I and in the top left corner of the new window you'll see the hard drive icon. Drag a folder onto the hard drive to make it look like any other folder and you now have a great security method ;)
 
Thanks.

But seriously its not porn.
I have a mac mini booting from a 30GB OCZ SSD -- no room to waste :D

If i did have porn, it would be on an external drive :)
 
Just to clarify, are you wanting to hide (visibly) or protect (encryption) these files/folders?
 
angelwatt said:
Just to clarify, are you wanting to hide (visibly) or protect (encryption) these files/folders?
Click to expand...

just hide, i dont want to look at the useless/empty files and folders that are mixed in with my media
 
ag55 said:
just hide, i dont want to look at the useless/empty files and folders that are mixed in with my media
Click to expand...

Then why don't you just separate them into two folders, "stuff I wanna see" and "stuff I don't wanna see"?
 
download true crypt. it lets you make secure drives. say you want to store 30 gigs of stuff you use it to make secure 30 gig drive when you want to view it you mount the drive and use it like any hard drive. when done you dismount it and it is secure again. as long as you don't forget your password it works very well. http://www.truecrypt.org/ plus when the drive is not mounted the file can be moved or copied and backed up.
 
steve knight said:
download true crypt. it lets you make secure drives. say you want to store 30 gigs of stuff you use it to make secure 30 gig drive when you want to view it you mount the drive and use it like any hard drive. when done you dismount it and it is secure again. as long as you don't forget your password it works very well. http://www.truecrypt.org/ plus when the drive is not mounted the file can be moved or copied and backed up.
Click to expand...

Isn't that just the same as making a disk image in Disk Utility?
 
angelwatt said:
The effect is the same (encrypted space), but the specific methods and options are different and TrueCrypt is supported on Mac/Win/Linux.
Click to expand...

plus I took my files from my xp machine and they worked fine on my mac. Plus the price is right.
 
Also: dmg = BIG. A 1 gig dmg with 500 meg in it is still 1 gig.
Besides, why put your porn in an encrypted dmg? it ruins the fun of hiding it deep in a subdirectory!
Encrypted dmgs are better for things you don't want the feds to get. So porn better not be one of those things, cuz the only illegal porn is illegal for a reason, you pedo.
 
The encrypted disk image IS the way to go. Up to Tiger offers 128-bit AES encryption, Leopard offers 256-bit AES encryption.

I use it for all my business accounting files on my old PBG4, should it ever fall into the wrong hands (No, I don't mean the Inland Revenue / IRS). Give it some innocent looking name though, like "World of Warcraft Updates.sparseimage", or "OSX 10.5.8 Combo Updater.dmg", you get the idea.

donuttakedonuts said:
Also: dmg = BIG. A 1 gig dmg with 500 meg in it is still 1 gig.
Click to expand...

Nah, make it a sparse image. 500MB of data on a 1GB max capacity disk image will use only 500MB. Plus you can dynamically resize it up or down depending on your requirements.

donuttakedonuts said:
cuz the only illegal porn is illegal for a reason, you pedo.
Click to expand...

WTF is a pedo ? or do you mean paedo ?

Edit:
Apologies, checked with Google, it's another American mis-spelling.
 
Has anyone in this thread actually read the OP's request? They're not asking to secure or encrypt files, just to prevent them from showing up in Finder.

Ritsard's response is correct. You can hide a file or folder by opening Terminal (/Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app) and typing

setfile -a V

Drag whatever you want to hide into the Terminal window, then press return.
 
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