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I need to protect my data, is this enough?

Nym

Nym

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Oct 4, 2006
607
0
Porto, Portugal
Hi guys!

Quick Question:

If I use FileVault to protect my Home folder in OSX and send the iMac to the store (I need the DVD Drive replaced), is there any way for the guys at the store to get into my account as root user or any other way?

I've thought about buying an external HD and create a clone of my Macintosh HD but as I also have a Windows XP partition this solution is out of the picture.

Will FileVault or even a password protected account protect my data from the "geniuses" at the store?

Thx for your help.
 
shipdestroyer said:
You could create a password protected disk image of your OS X partition in Disk Utility.
Click to expand...

The problem is that, I'm pretty sure that I cannot restore a bootcamp Windows partition that way, and I would lose all the games I've installed.

But FileVault is supposed to be a secure way to lock your files.

Argh, I was hoping for at least 10-15 replies from Mac experts here but.. guess they're not in today :)
 
I believe if you use SuperDuper it will clone everything, including your Windows partition. If you are worried about someone getting to your data the safest thing to do is not give it to them in the first place. Keep in on an external and keep the external with you. Hope that helps.
 
You seemed to imply that you wanted to encrypt your windows partition as well. FileVault is not going to encrypt your BootCamp partition (it's not in your home directory, and it would yield the windows install useless).

I'd second the idea of encrypted disk images.
 
If you are trying to protect the data in your home directory, then File Vault will absolutely work. No one can crack that without the password. As noted, FV will not protect a Windows partition. You can also copy your home directory to an external device, create a new admin user, and delete your original user account. Then you would be handing over your 'Book with a usable, but useless, account.
 
there isn't a way to encrypt a folder on another drive using filevault is there? I hope this will be able to be done in leopard...
 
The whole purpose of FileVault is to protect your home directory. If you want to encrypt a folder on another drive, use the Disk Utility. Make an encrypted disk image, copy the 'sensitive' :eek: data into it. Delete the original. You will then have a image file that won't open without a password.
 
What I am looking for is a more on-the-fly encryption like how filevault encrypts my home directory only I would like to do the same for another directory on a different drive...

I think I remember reading somewhere that leopard would support this but I could be mistaken...
 
rockstarjoe said:
I believe if you use SuperDuper it will clone everything, including your Windows partition.
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure SuperDuper won't help with the windows partition. I think SuperDuper copies files and permissions and settings, etc. I don't believe it straight up copies data at low level like dd would.

You would need some other program to clone the windows partition. I'm not sure of any that can do it from OS X. If you bought an external and used SuperDuper to copy your OS X installation, you could boot from the back up, run boot camp to repartition your external -and then use a third party windows app to copy the boot camp partition or you may even be able to do it from OS X with Disk Utility by restoring the partition form your internal. I've never done that with NTFS partitions but it works great with HFS+. I've used Norton Ghost in the past with Windows.


Another option - depending on how much sensitive data you have, would be just to buy an external (flash or otherwise) big enough for your data and move it off your internal completely while your computer is away...
 
I am also concerned about keeping all personal info from being accessible by anyone including 'honest' repair guys.

I created an encrypted disk image (40gb) and mount it whenever I want to work. Even my Parallels is in there. I work on everything from within the image. It's been working just great. So far I've had 2 crashes where I couldn't even get into my macbook.

Now, I'm still looking for a good solution for my Bootcamp partition,
because I can't access the disk image from windows.
And even if I could, files I open in windows will be wrote to the windows drive.
Same with an External Drive.

We need a way to make the Bootcamp Partition inaccessible.
 
If it is just the Boot Camp partition you are concerned with, get the free utility Winclone, clone your BootCamp partition to an external and wipe the BootCamp partition.

When you get it back, restore the WinClone backup to the BootCamp partition, assuming keeping your BootCamp partition private is worth the time to do this.

BTW- WinClone was specifically developed for BootCamp partition backup and works very, very well.
 
I think you are pretty safe with filevault, because this is why apple integrated it in os x. To protect your data even if some else has physical access to your mac. your bootcamp partition wouldn't be safe with filevault though.
To clone your bootcamp partition use winclone
 
You could use PGP Desktop Professional for Mac. The latest version includes whole-disk encryption for the boot drive (I use it for my laptop).

I don't know how/if it handles a bootcamp partition (I use VMs for the times Windows is shoved down my throat), but I'm sure they address that setup. Check it out at www.pgp.com.

You can get a free 30-day trial, so you can use it to get your system repaired and remove it when you get it back.
 
jc1350 said:
You could use PGP Desktop Professional for Mac. The latest version includes whole-disk encryption for the boot drive (I use it for my laptop).

I don't know how/if it handles a bootcamp partition (I use VMs for the times Windows is shoved down my throat), but I'm sure they address that setup. Check it out at www.pgp.com.

You can get a free 30-day trial, so you can use it to get your system repaired and remove it when you get it back.
Click to expand...

It won't work. We use PGP Software at my company and we tried to encrypt whole drives with bootcamp partitions and PGP Whole Disk Encryption wont work. We checked with Checkpoint "Pointsec" and it doesnt do it either.

We have looked at every single encryption solution and none of them work with a Bootcamp Partition.

The reason for this is the different boot options. Intel Mac's use GUID, while Windows uses MBR.

So there you have it.
 
Yes, FileVault encrypts your home directory into a sparse disk bundle. Anything in your home will be encrypted. This will not protect all the rest of your files however. You can always use disk utility to create your own encrypted sparse disk image, or you can download software to do it for you.

I use a program called "Espionage" that gives you several encryption method choices. It allows you to encrypt individual folders using the same method as Disk Utility, but it hides the disk images and simplifies the whole process.
 
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