Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

habibbijan

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 17, 2004
32
0
Is it possible to create a password-protected archive of a file or folder in OS X?

I know about encrypted DMGs, but it seems pointless to have to specify the size ahead of time. A ZIP, RAR, or 7z archive would be better.

Example: I work all day on music composition files. At the end of the day I want to archive these files, and I usually e-mail them to myself for backup purposes. However, e-mail is like writing on the electronic bathroom wall, so I want to password-protect these archives.

Can one do this in OS X? Right now I'm using Windows (don't hate me - I love OS X too) for my music composition needs, but will probably switch back to a Mac for this task soon. On Windows I currently use the open-source 7-zip program to create password-protected archives. It's funny. I can decompress these archives in OS X, and it prompts me for the password, but I can't figure out how to compress them with a password.

Any ideas? I would prefer a free program.
 
To answer my own question, the only application I have found that can do this (for free) is Ez 7z.

It's ugly, but it works for now. It is basically a front-end for p7zip, and it has to fire up the Terminal to work.

The application 7zX looks promising, but (to my knowledge) cannot encrypt archives with a password. I've made a request for this option on the developer's site.

Am I so strange in my desire to easily create password-protected archives? To me this seems like a very common thing to do, and there are several free Windows applications that can do this. I'm baffled as to why there are not yet equivalents for OS X.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.