Mac High Sierra FileVault Slow Encription

[TokMok3]

Just installed MacOS Sierra on one of my machines. I did a clean install by pressing OPTION + COMMAND + R
then formatted the drive with the APFS file system, then installed the operating system. During the new owner setup installation I choose to encrypt the disk with FileVault.

After the setup was completed, I check on FileVault to see how long takes to encrypt a 250GB SSD disk on a 2015 MacBook Pro. It show that it will take 10 hours to encrypt... is this normal with High Sierra or is a new feature? With macOS Sierra it only takes less than 20 minutes or less to encrypt the disk.

Is anybody else having this problem?

 

[Mike Boreham]

Just installed MacOS Sierra on one of my machines. I did a clean install by pressing OPTION + COMMAND + R
then formatted the drive with the APFS file system, then installed the operating system. During the new owner setup installation I choose to encrypt the disk with FileVault.

After the setup was completed, I check on FileVault to see how long takes to encrypt a 250GB SSD disk on a 2015 MacBook Pro. It show that it will take 10 hours to encrypt... is this normal with High Sierra or is a new feature? With macOS Sierra it only takes less than 20 minutes or less to encrypt the disk.

Is anybody else having this problem?

A 500 Gb (300GB used) High Sierra APFS volume took 6 hours which is about what I am used to on earlier OSes.

I just turned on FV on 50GB (20 GB used) HS APFS volume and it says 14 hours. I will report back when it completes. My guess it will be a lot quicker. The estimated time varies wildly.

Running diskutil apfs list in Terminal will show what the actual percentage encryption status is rather than the unreliable time remaining. The Terminal window doesnt update, you need to relaunch it from time to time.

PS ...the above is different from what you have quoted below, because when I tried to add the bit about Terminal I managed to delete my original reply, so re-wrote it!

 

[TokMok3]

I turned on Filevault on a 500Gb (300 Gb used) HS APFS volume and it took 6 hours. The estimated time varied wildly, but that is what it took. This is typical of what I have seen with earlier OSes. .

Maybe your 20 minutes on Sierra was with a nearly empty drive? Although I am not quite sure whether the amount of data on the drive is relevant or not...I think not.

I just turned FV on a small 50Gb HS APFS partition with 20 GB used and it says 14 hours remaining at this moment. I will post back when it is done. My expectation is that your 10hrs and my 14hrs will actually be a lot less.

As soon as I do a clean install, before installing any application the first thing that I do is to turn on FileVault, that could be the reason for the 20 minutes that it takes to encrypt a 250GB on macOS Sierra.

This time I did the same with macOs High Sierra, turn on FileVault without installing any applications and it shows 10 hours to encrypt. Very unusual, but it seems that I'm not the only one. It has pass about 1 hour and the blue incremental bar show that 40% is done, it could be as you say, it my take less than 10 hours. I hope so.

Thanks for your answer.

 

[Mike Boreham]

As soon as I do a clean install, before installing any application the first thing that I do is to turn on FileVault, that could be the reason for the 20 minutes that it takes to encrypt a 250GB on macOS Sierra.

This time I did the same with macOs High Sierra, turn on FileVault without installing any applications and it shows 10 hours to encrypt. Very unusual, but it seems that I'm not the only one. It has pass about 1 hour and the blue incremental bar show that 40% is done, it could be as you say, it my take less than 10 hours. I hope so.

Thanks for your answer.

Presumably the computer spec makes a difference too. The numbers I quoted earlier were on a 12" MacBook M5. I would expect less time on a faster machine.

 

[TokMok3]

Finally

Presumably the computer spec makes a difference too. The numbers I quoted earlier were on a 12" MacBook M5. I would expect less time on a faster machine.

Finally, encryption completed on a MacBook Pro mid 2015 i7 2.8 . It took about 2 hours to encrypt a 250GB SSD on macOS High Sierra, compared with 20 minutes on macOS Sierra.

It seem that High Sierra needs a tune-up. I don't understand this, honestly.

 

[Mike Boreham]

Finally


Finally, encryption completed on a MacBook Pro mid 2015 i7 2.8 . It took about 2 hours to encrypt a 250GB SSD on macOS High Sierra, compared with 20 minutes on macOS Sierra.

It seem that High Sierra needs a tune-up. I don't understand this, honestly.

I think you're right, my 50GB test partition has now been encrypting for seven hours and is about 55% done. Not seen it this slow before.

 

[NickEurope]

Hi,

What i seriously do not understand :
- If encryption is already part of APFS, why are we still able to (un)select FileVault then?
- When we accidently select/activate FileVault, it takes hours and hours and hours to encrypt (+ afterwards optimize) (while the encryption is already part of the new format APFS) (so why is this taking so long)??

I have 500GB SSD and it is already running for 16 hours and keeps running. Also started this on my Macbook Air, there it took 6 hours (also 500GB) and is now optimising (also for a few hours)...

Something does not look logical to me with the new APFS + encryption vs. FileVault...

Is this an error in the flow?

 

[dsemf]

FileVault is the generic name for encryption.

On HFS+ it is implemented using CoreStorage. On APFS, it uses the built-in capability.

DS

 

[NickEurope]

Indeed, i understand, but if encryption is already present in APFS, why, when "switching on" FileVault (and all data should already be encrypted due to the new APFS-filesystem), why does it run a encryption-process that takes hours and hours while it should already be encrypted due to APFS?

(or am i overlooking something?)

 

[alexclst]

Indeed, i understand, but if encryption is already present in APFS, why, when "switching on" FileVault (and all data should already be encrypted due to the new APFS-filesystem), why does it run a encryption-process that takes hours and hours while it should already be encrypted due to APFS?

(or am i overlooking something?)

As I understand it, APFS has native encryption in the filesystem, which HFS+ did not (hence CoreStorage being used below HFS+ to implement it). The encryption is not on by default. You must turn it on, which on boot drives we do using FileVault, in order to use the APFS encryption feature. Since encryption isn’t the default, when you turn it on it takes time to actually encrypt the data.

 

[NickEurope]

Indeed, now i see... I thought this was on by default and would be already active (but which still would take time for the Mac to encrypt all data of course). Ok, thanks for the explanation in this forum, will wait until the process is ready then (which is already running two days/nights now).

 

[TokMok3]

Indeed, now i see... I thought this was on by default and would be already active (but which still would take time for the Mac to encrypt all data of course). Ok, thanks for the explanation in this forum, will wait until the process is ready then (which is already running two days/nights now).

But the question has not been answer: Why APFS encryption is taking too long? To be honest, I don't understand. I decide to reinstall MacOS Sierra, encryption's is faster and it's performance is as good as MacOS HighSierra.

 

[NickEurope]

Indeed, the encryption was taking like 4-5 days & nights... and was not even ready yet : first the "Encryption process" that takes place (which already took 4-5 days), next is the "Optimisation process" (also taking serious time) (tested this on my Macbook Air where it was little faster) (both have 500GB sad's, so don't understand where the difference comes from, both quad core Mac's).

Also decided also to go back to completely reinstall Sierra and leave High Sierra, too many (and serious) issues with High Sierra (crashes on apps, logging-in with bluetooth keyboard & mouse not possible, cannot pdf-print documents anymore, cfr. sudden message "filenames cannot be longer then 31 characters", etc, etc, etc). High Sierra is in my opinion not ready for release... (or you have to be very lucky on the install and having no issues... i presume or possibly depending on kind of usage of Mac's (personal or professional/intensive use).

 

[LarryJoe33]

So, if I elected to format my SSD boot drive as APFS Encrypted during a clean install, is this the same as turning FV on and would FV be on if I formatted as APFS Encrypted?

In terms of the original question, I am encrypting now, been running for a few hours and says more than one day remaining. I would imagine when I leave the machine alone for the day it will speed up. I have about 100GB of a 525GB drive to encrypt.

 

[Weaselboy]

So, if I elected to format my SSD boot drive as APFS Encrypted during a clean install, is this the same as turning FV on and would FV be on if I formatted as APFS Encrypted?

Sort of.... the end result encryption would be the same, but if you format to APFS encrypted then do an install the boot process will not work properly. When you just format and install, then afterward turn in FV, it does more than just convert the drive to APFS encrypted. It also changes the boot process so the system boots to the recovery partition then propts you for a password to "unlock" the encrypted drive. If you format to encrypted first, then install, it does not do this boot process reconfiguration and does not boot like it should.

So bottom line is, no you do not want to format to encrypted then install.

 

[LarryJoe33]

Sort of.... the end result encryption would be the same, but if you format to APFS encrypted then do an install the boot process will not work properly. When you just format and install, then afterward turn in FV, it does more than just convert the drive to APFS encrypted. It also changes the boot process so the system boots to the recovery partition then propts you for a password to "unlock" the encrypted drive. If you format to encrypted first, then install, it does not do this boot process reconfiguration and does not boot like it should.

So bottom line is, no you do not want to format to encrypted then install.

Got it. Thank you. So I’m doing it in the right order. I wonder why APFS Encrypted is an option for formatting? Lastly, so when FV is done encrypting my drive will read as APFS encrypted in DU?

 

[Weaselboy]

I wonder why APFS Encrypted is an option for formatting?

So you can encrypt other disks like say an external drive or USB key.

Lastly, so when FV is done encrypting my drive will read as APFS encrypted in DU?

Yep... exactly.

 

[oldhifi]

I encrypted the disk with FileVault, it took 7 hours, then I decrypted it, it took 5 hours.. I will never do that again..my laptop was pretty useless during that time..

 

[LarryJoe33]

I encrypted the disk with FileVault, it took 7 hours, then I decrypted it, it took 5 hours.. I will never do that again..my laptop was pretty useless during that time..

Why did you undo it? You went through a 7 hour encryption (which really isn’t that bad) and reversed it?? Doesn’t make sense to me.

My older machine handled the encryption just fine and was very much useable during the process, so I’m not sure what your specs are, but even if it bogged down your machine, you couldn’t give up 7 hours of your computing life?

 

[Weaselboy]

I encrypted the disk with FileVault, it took 7 hours, then I decrypted it, it took 5 hours.. I will never do that again..my laptop was pretty useless during that time..

Yeah... I'm with @LarryJoe33. I don't get it. You just do this once when you buy the laptop and all your data is completely encrypted. It seems like a good tradeoff. Was having the encryption on just not that important to you?

 

[oldhifi]

Why did you undo it? You went through a 7 hour encryption (which really isn’t that bad) and reversed it?? Doesn’t make sense to me.

My older machine handled the encryption just fine and was very much useable during the process, so I’m not sure what your specs are, but even if it bogged down your machine, you couldn’t give up 7 hours of your computing life?

Yeah... I'm with @LarryJoe33. I don't get it. You just do this once when you buy the laptop and all your data is completely encrypted. It seems like a good tradeoff. Was having the encryption on just not that important to you?

I was downgrading from High Sierra to El Captain, I made the mistake when I encrypted the disk during installation of Yosemite on my 2010 MBP

 

[Babygotfont]

A 500 Gb (300GB used) High Sierra APFS volume took 6 hours which is about what I am used to on earlier OSes.

I just turned on FV on 50GB (20 GB used) HS APFS volume and it says 14 hours. I will report back when it completes. My guess it will be a lot quicker. The estimated time varies wildly.

Running diskutil apfs list in Terminal will show what the actual percentage encryption status is rather than the unreliable time remaining. The Terminal window doesnt update, you need to relaunch it from time to time.

PS ...the above is different from what you have quoted below, because when I tried to add the bit about Terminal I managed to delete my original reply, so re-wrote it!

[doublepost=1521054665][/doublepost]2017 imac 5k, 64gb ram, 3tb fusion (300gb of data) ... time to encrypt was 5 days (mar 9 start, mar 13 finished) ... it is what it is (and i'm staying encrypted) ... my timemachine backup's are also encrypted ... and all my vm's are encrypted ...