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Panther FileVault Troubles?
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FileVault and iTunes
If your password is easily guessed then yes. Else, the answer is no. This is the wherefore in the big red "WARNING" when you turn on FileVault.
FileVault stores your home directory in an AES-128 encrypted sparse disk image. This is a standard used for U.S. Government security regulations. This image is decrypted automatically on login (though it appears some have had trouble with this, I'd bet the disk image is still there so I don't know which of these "corruption" complaints are actually true).
Basically if someone were to remove the hard drive, all they would see is a disk image where your home directory would be. This single file is encrypted.
Methinks you should read more about FileVault and AES-128 before using it. Odds are you don't need it. If you do, but aren't required to have it, you should probably create a disk image file (AES-128 encrypted, sparse) with Disk Utility and get familiar with how it works. This might help if something untoward were to happen. Also, always keep backups. If you turn on FileVault on your notebook and don't have a backup of your home directory on your server, I don't think you're going to get much pity from anyone.
To the person using iTunes with FileVault: It is a bad idea to keep your iTunes in your home directory with FileVault, especially if your iTunes library is large.
I recommend putting files such as those in the /Users/Shared folder (I think you can put a symlink or an alias to allow iTunes to still manage them). This way it won't slow your login process or access.
Personally, I haven't installed FileVault, since I didn't trust it. It seems my mistrust was misplaced (posts to this message board notwithstanding).
Does anyone actually have corrupted encrypted disk images? I hear a whole lot of reports of people losing access to their disk image (though in many cases, they aren't aware of it because they don't know how FileVault works), but little of the former.
Take care,
terry
If your password is easily guessed then yes. Else, the answer is no. This is the wherefore in the big red "WARNING" when you turn on FileVault.
FileVault stores your home directory in an AES-128 encrypted sparse disk image. This is a standard used for U.S. Government security regulations. This image is decrypted automatically on login (though it appears some have had trouble with this, I'd bet the disk image is still there so I don't know which of these "corruption" complaints are actually true).
Basically if someone were to remove the hard drive, all they would see is a disk image where your home directory would be. This single file is encrypted.
Methinks you should read more about FileVault and AES-128 before using it. Odds are you don't need it. If you do, but aren't required to have it, you should probably create a disk image file (AES-128 encrypted, sparse) with Disk Utility and get familiar with how it works. This might help if something untoward were to happen. Also, always keep backups. If you turn on FileVault on your notebook and don't have a backup of your home directory on your server, I don't think you're going to get much pity from anyone.
To the person using iTunes with FileVault: It is a bad idea to keep your iTunes in your home directory with FileVault, especially if your iTunes library is large.
I recommend putting files such as those in the /Users/Shared folder (I think you can put a symlink or an alias to allow iTunes to still manage them). This way it won't slow your login process or access.
Personally, I haven't installed FileVault, since I didn't trust it. It seems my mistrust was misplaced (posts to this message board notwithstanding).
Does anyone actually have corrupted encrypted disk images? I hear a whole lot of reports of people losing access to their disk image (though in many cases, they aren't aware of it because they don't know how FileVault works), but little of the former.
Take care,
terry
Re: FileVault and iTunes
That's not actually a good way of describing what FileVault does. Instead, it's more accurate to say that all disk access to the encrypted disk image is automatically encrypted (when writing) and decrypted (when reading) when the disk image is mounted. The contents of the disk image are never actually decrypted, in the sense that a plaintext copy of created from the cyphertext. The data is only decrypted when it's loaded into memory.
Don't use a symlink or an alias. Instead, just go to the iTunes preferences and tell it to use a library folder outside your home directory. It's in the "Advanced" pane, I believe.
That's not actually a good way of describing what FileVault does. Instead, it's more accurate to say that all disk access to the encrypted disk image is automatically encrypted (when writing) and decrypted (when reading) when the disk image is mounted. The contents of the disk image are never actually decrypted, in the sense that a plaintext copy of created from the cyphertext. The data is only decrypted when it's loaded into memory.
Don't use a symlink or an alias. Instead, just go to the iTunes preferences and tell it to use a library folder outside your home directory. It's in the "Advanced" pane, I believe.
Re: Panther FileVault Troubles?
Well now I know what happend to my address book on my Ti laptop
(right now Address book just quits on me with out opening anything up). I find it weird that this feature works fine on my desktop though. It has asked me several times to reclaim the space, and I haven't noticed any data missing.
Raid
Well now I know what happend to my address book on my Ti laptop
(right now Address book just quits on me with out opening anything up). I find it weird that this feature works fine on my desktop though. It has asked me several times to reclaim the space, and I haven't noticed any data missing.Raid
Re: FileVault and iTunes
That's not a big deal, but the fact that it happened has me worried about other things. Encoding music looks similar to compiling source code, and source code plus the builds are something that I want to keep in FileVault. But, if doing that has a high chance of corrupting the build, and maybe even the source, I can't risk it.
Lost preferences aside, FileVault comes pretty close to "It works fine, as long as you don't use it." It's disappointing, but FileVault is the first thing on OS X that doesn't "just work" for me. I look forward to using it again once it's reliable.
That's not a big deal, but the fact that it happened has me worried about other things. Encoding music looks similar to compiling source code, and source code plus the builds are something that I want to keep in FileVault. But, if doing that has a high chance of corrupting the build, and maybe even the source, I can't risk it.
Lost preferences aside, FileVault comes pretty close to "It works fine, as long as you don't use it." It's disappointing, but FileVault is the first thing on OS X that doesn't "just work" for me. I look forward to using it again once it's reliable.
Backups?
Not to give Apple a free pass here, but to all of you who have lost data, you did a backup all your important information before updating/installing a new operating system, just like the instructions told you to do, right? And even forgetting moving to a new OS, you do regular backups anyway, right?
Not to give Apple a free pass here, but to all of you who have lost data, you did a backup all your important information before updating/installing a new operating system, just like the instructions told you to do, right? And even forgetting moving to a new OS, you do regular backups anyway, right?
Re: Re: Panther/FileVault and Final Cut Express
No, I guess you're right, I should have foreseen this issue with Panther and Final Cut Express not Apple. As A matter of fact, I guess we all should have foreseen all the imcompatibility issues with Panther not Apple. I guess I should not rely on Apple being the expert with issues with their own software - I should be the expert. Thanks for setting me straight!
No, I guess you're right, I should have foreseen this issue with Panther and Final Cut Express not Apple. As A matter of fact, I guess we all should have foreseen all the imcompatibility issues with Panther not Apple. I guess I should not rely on Apple being the expert with issues with their own software - I should be the expert. Thanks for setting me straight!
File Vault...Ah Ha!
I've been wondering why I've had to trash my preferences folder twice already in less than a week.
I just got a new 17" PB and was having trouble due to a faulty ram chip installed by the reseller (I've had so much trouble with resellers lately, I think I'm going to buy direct from Apple from now on...I know, I'm simplifying a complicated problem, but it makes me feel better at the moment). I was getting kernel panics all the time for no apparent reason.
Well, I finally got a new ram chip to replace the bad one, and my system started running much better.
Unfortunately, one day Safari started getting errors every time I tried to download somthing. The download manager would say "Cannot write file to disk" or something of that nature. Then, Mail kept crashing every time I tried to open it. After I've tried everything else I know to correct the problems and checked every other resource I could find as well, I finally trashed the entire Preferences folder and started over. That didn't make me happy, especially since it always takes forever to re-do all of my preferences.
Then this morning, I wanted to check my schedule for the week to make sure I hadn't forgotten anything important that I needed to do. So, I opened iCal and every single calendar inside was BLANK. There was nothing in it.
Sure, I have a backup of my calendars. It's the one I had before I upgraded to Panther. But that one's over a week old, and everything I've done inside iCal since 10/26 is lost. What a pain.
Now, I didn't lose my mail (at least as far as I can tell, but I have tons of mail, so perhaps some is missing that I just haven't discovered yet), strangely enough.
I haven't yet gotten around to importing my iPhoto and iTunes libraries from my backup drive (that's where I saved everything before doing a clean install to Panther), so I'm not sure if those files would have been affected in my case or not. I have been missing some mail, but I think it's a remote server problem rather than a problem on my local machine that's causing that.
When Mail crashed, though, I did get a peculiar bug reporter message that sent the info to Apple. I guess that's good. The only time I've ever seen a similar bug reporting mechanism is in Safari.
This is really bizarre because ever since I started using OS X two years ago, I've NEVER lost any data -- EVER! It didn't matter how badly I hacked into or mangled up my system (which I haven't even attempted yet on Panther because I've been so busy with other things) before, I could always find my files and they were always perfectly intact. Seems strange that File Vault could screw things up so badly, doesn't it?
I've been wondering why I've had to trash my preferences folder twice already in less than a week.
I just got a new 17" PB and was having trouble due to a faulty ram chip installed by the reseller (I've had so much trouble with resellers lately, I think I'm going to buy direct from Apple from now on...I know, I'm simplifying a complicated problem, but it makes me feel better at the moment). I was getting kernel panics all the time for no apparent reason.
Well, I finally got a new ram chip to replace the bad one, and my system started running much better.
Unfortunately, one day Safari started getting errors every time I tried to download somthing. The download manager would say "Cannot write file to disk" or something of that nature. Then, Mail kept crashing every time I tried to open it. After I've tried everything else I know to correct the problems and checked every other resource I could find as well, I finally trashed the entire Preferences folder and started over. That didn't make me happy, especially since it always takes forever to re-do all of my preferences.
Then this morning, I wanted to check my schedule for the week to make sure I hadn't forgotten anything important that I needed to do. So, I opened iCal and every single calendar inside was BLANK. There was nothing in it.
Sure, I have a backup of my calendars. It's the one I had before I upgraded to Panther. But that one's over a week old, and everything I've done inside iCal since 10/26 is lost. What a pain.
Now, I didn't lose my mail (at least as far as I can tell, but I have tons of mail, so perhaps some is missing that I just haven't discovered yet), strangely enough.
I haven't yet gotten around to importing my iPhoto and iTunes libraries from my backup drive (that's where I saved everything before doing a clean install to Panther), so I'm not sure if those files would have been affected in my case or not. I have been missing some mail, but I think it's a remote server problem rather than a problem on my local machine that's causing that.
When Mail crashed, though, I did get a peculiar bug reporter message that sent the info to Apple. I guess that's good. The only time I've ever seen a similar bug reporting mechanism is in Safari.
This is really bizarre because ever since I started using OS X two years ago, I've NEVER lost any data -- EVER! It didn't matter how badly I hacked into or mangled up my system (which I haven't even attempted yet on Panther because I've been so busy with other things) before, I could always find my files and they were always perfectly intact. Seems strange that File Vault could screw things up so badly, doesn't it?
Re: FileVault and iTunes
Ok, some of us don't have the luxury of having more than one computer to play with. I only have one computer, my powerbook. Therefore, I cannot keep a complete replica of my harddrive on another machine (or server, as you've suggested). Hence, my stuff is all on the powerbook. Granted, I have it partitioned and keep a backup of most things on a separate partition; plus I have a slightly less up-to-date backup on a small external hard drive that stays in my home office when the powerbook is out-and-about with me. But that backup is NOT constantly synchronized. My backup calendar files and other data are about a week old, so that doesn't help me much if File Vault has decided to erase my stuff whenever it feels like it.
What I can't figure out is how on earth anyone was supposed to "know" that File Vault was a bad thing to turn on? You get a new-and-improved operating system, install it according to the directions, doing everything just right, but you're supposed to be psychic enough to know that you shouldn't turn on File Vault unless you have your entire home directory replicated on an external server? That's logical.
Nobody's looking for pity here, just a proper fix and a way to figure out what happened to the missing files and hopefully recover them somehow.
Yes, I know how to do many things that programmers know how to do, and I've implemented a lot of them. That said, I do not think that we should have to babysit the machine to make sure it's doing its job properly. What's the point of having anything automated if you have to stand there and watch it to make sure it's not going to screw up? Seems silly to me.
About the encrypted disk images...where do I find those? Are you saying that if I look inside the encrypted disk images, I may find the uncorrupted calendar files and other data that are seemingly missing from my Library folder?
How would I go about doing that? Or is this something I could call Apple support about? I'd really like to get my missing stuff back, unless you think File Vault did an over-write of some kind that will prevent me from ever getting those files back.
None of this is meant to be disrespectful to anybody, really. I'm just frustrated right now because this is the first time I've ever lost anything since I've been using a Mac that I haven't managed to somehow recover on my own. Good thing it wasn't any of my thesis research. That reminds me, I'd better go turn off File Vault right now before something else happens.
I still love my Mac. I just wish some of the posters would quit blaming people for losing their own files. It's just not realistic for everybody to have an up-to-the-second backup of the entire home directory. Sometimes backups are a few hours old, a few days old, or even a week old. It depends on each particular person's resources.
Ok, some of us don't have the luxury of having more than one computer to play with. I only have one computer, my powerbook. Therefore, I cannot keep a complete replica of my harddrive on another machine (or server, as you've suggested). Hence, my stuff is all on the powerbook. Granted, I have it partitioned and keep a backup of most things on a separate partition; plus I have a slightly less up-to-date backup on a small external hard drive that stays in my home office when the powerbook is out-and-about with me. But that backup is NOT constantly synchronized. My backup calendar files and other data are about a week old, so that doesn't help me much if File Vault has decided to erase my stuff whenever it feels like it.
What I can't figure out is how on earth anyone was supposed to "know" that File Vault was a bad thing to turn on? You get a new-and-improved operating system, install it according to the directions, doing everything just right, but you're supposed to be psychic enough to know that you shouldn't turn on File Vault unless you have your entire home directory replicated on an external server? That's logical.
Nobody's looking for pity here, just a proper fix and a way to figure out what happened to the missing files and hopefully recover them somehow.
Yes, I know how to do many things that programmers know how to do, and I've implemented a lot of them. That said, I do not think that we should have to babysit the machine to make sure it's doing its job properly. What's the point of having anything automated if you have to stand there and watch it to make sure it's not going to screw up? Seems silly to me.
About the encrypted disk images...where do I find those? Are you saying that if I look inside the encrypted disk images, I may find the uncorrupted calendar files and other data that are seemingly missing from my Library folder?
How would I go about doing that? Or is this something I could call Apple support about? I'd really like to get my missing stuff back, unless you think File Vault did an over-write of some kind that will prevent me from ever getting those files back.
None of this is meant to be disrespectful to anybody, really. I'm just frustrated right now because this is the first time I've ever lost anything since I've been using a Mac that I haven't managed to somehow recover on my own. Good thing it wasn't any of my thesis research. That reminds me, I'd better go turn off File Vault right now before something else happens.
I still love my Mac. I just wish some of the posters would quit blaming people for losing their own files. It's just not realistic for everybody to have an up-to-the-second backup of the entire home directory. Sometimes backups are a few hours old, a few days old, or even a week old. It depends on each particular person's resources.
Oh yeah, I forgot about that. That happened to me too. I lost my mail accounts and other mail settings as well. I didn't lose my saved mail (the stuff I'd moved to sub-directories[mailboxes]), but I did have to start all over with everything else in Mail.
Re: Re: Re: Panther/FileVault and Final Cut Express
If you're using Final Cut (any version), I think it's safe to assume that you'll be knowledgable enough to realize that decrypting and editing video at the same time could be an issue. This isn't an incompatibility issue, it's a "user really should've thought this through" issue.
If you're using Final Cut (any version), I think it's safe to assume that you'll be knowledgable enough to realize that decrypting and editing video at the same time could be an issue. This isn't an incompatibility issue, it's a "user really should've thought this through" issue.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Panther/FileVault and Final Cut Express
No, there is no reason that it should be an issue. On the fly encryption like this should be transparent and fast. Yes it will add overhead, but no it will not, or rather should not, cause any issues besides a slight slowdown. Panther is not the first operating system to have encrypted home directories, but it is the first one I've heard of having corruption occuring during normal use.
FYI, in some operating systems it is possible to have the entire file system encrypted.
No, there is no reason that it should be an issue. On the fly encryption like this should be transparent and fast. Yes it will add overhead, but no it will not, or rather should not, cause any issues besides a slight slowdown. Panther is not the first operating system to have encrypted home directories, but it is the first one I've heard of having corruption occuring during normal use.
FYI, in some operating systems it is possible to have the entire file system encrypted.
>Ok, some of us don't have the luxury of having more than one computer to play with. I only have one computer, my powerbook. Therefore, I cannot keep a complete replica of my harddrive on another machine (or server, as you've suggested)
honestly, that's a waste of disk space.... just get a small FW HD... you could pick up an external one for about $130, or less, or more... its the easiest way to go
honestly, that's a waste of disk space.... just get a small FW HD... you could pick up an external one for about $130, or less, or more... its the easiest way to go
Panther Bites!
I turned FileVault on about 7 days after installing Panther. The result has been a complete disaster.
The first thing that happened was that it corrupted my entire iTunes Music Library and left with a message saying that your "iTunes Music Library seems to be an invalid file".
Trying to restore the music library seemed the right thing to do but whatever FileVault did i it rendered al of the music files downloaded (over 400+) from the iTunes Music Store corrupted. I had to remove those files from my music Library before iTunes would create a valid music Library.
AND....
In addition to that mess; all of my keychain information was lost, preferences lost or reset for everything from applications to my dock.
I am currently going back and checking every document and application to see if they have been affected in any way.
Needles to say, I am have turned off FileVault and feel like the Panther has treated me in much the same way as Roy was attacked!
I can't be alone on this, can you please report the experiences of others to help bring awareness to this problem so that maybe Apple with validate the problem and put in a fix for it OR if nothing else to prevent other unsuspecting Panther converts from turning on this much touted but these this well executed feature in Panther.
Sincerely,
Kevin E. McKenna
FYI:
I am running Panther on a Powerbook 17" with a 1.33 GHz processor &1 meg of Ram
I turned FileVault on about 7 days after installing Panther. The result has been a complete disaster.
The first thing that happened was that it corrupted my entire iTunes Music Library and left with a message saying that your "iTunes Music Library seems to be an invalid file".
Trying to restore the music library seemed the right thing to do but whatever FileVault did i it rendered al of the music files downloaded (over 400+) from the iTunes Music Store corrupted. I had to remove those files from my music Library before iTunes would create a valid music Library.
AND....
In addition to that mess; all of my keychain information was lost, preferences lost or reset for everything from applications to my dock.
I am currently going back and checking every document and application to see if they have been affected in any way.
Needles to say, I am have turned off FileVault and feel like the Panther has treated me in much the same way as Roy was attacked!
I can't be alone on this, can you please report the experiences of others to help bring awareness to this problem so that maybe Apple with validate the problem and put in a fix for it OR if nothing else to prevent other unsuspecting Panther converts from turning on this much touted but these this well executed feature in Panther.
Sincerely,
Kevin E. McKenna
FYI:
I am running Panther on a Powerbook 17" with a 1.33 GHz processor &1 meg of Ram
How big is your home directory though.
I think FV had problem only with large home directory. I enable FV on my desktop and brand new PB. On the PB I didn't have any problem, however, on my deskstop I lost my iPhoto pictures, MacRumor keep crashing with Safari and still can't turn FV off.
I think FV had problem only with large home directory. I enable FV on my desktop and brand new PB. On the PB I didn't have any problem, however, on my deskstop I lost my iPhoto pictures, MacRumor keep crashing with Safari and still can't turn FV off.
File Vault "Recovering Disk Space" Faulty
I activated File Vault when I installed Panther. For a week all was well. I stupidly clicked continue at every recover disk space operation. Itunes Library (but not the music thank goodness) got corrupted. All playlists lost, purchased music list lost, a real hassle. Also wiped out dock preferences. This program not ready for prime time.
I activated File Vault when I installed Panther. For a week all was well. I stupidly clicked continue at every recover disk space operation. Itunes Library (but not the music thank goodness) got corrupted. All playlists lost, purchased music list lost, a real hassle. Also wiped out dock preferences. This program not ready for prime time.