Problems With FileVault

[Discoverer]

Good afternoon.

I installed a fresh copy of Snow Leopard on my current-generation white MacBook. After I installed the OS, I decided to turn on FileVault for my user account.

I went through the process of turning it on. I saw the screen that said "Creating a FileVault". Then the screen went blue with the black "spinning circle" that you see during the boot-up process.

It has been like this for an hour. I am afraid to turn it off and screw something up.

Is this normal? Does it actually take this much time to turn it on?

 

[angelwatt]

It can take a couple hours depending how much disk space it needs to encrypt. I don't advise force stopping it unless you're convinced it's stuck because it could potentially corrupt some of the disk space.

 

[Discoverer]

It can take a couple hours depending how much disk space it needs to encrypt. I don't advise force stopping it unless you're convinced it's stuck because it could potentially corrupt some of the disk space.

Thank you for the response. FileVault only encrypts the user's home folder, right? But if that is the case then it shouldn't be taking this much time since there is absolutely nothing in my folder. It is a fresh install.

I will wait another hour and see if anything else happens.

 

[maflynn]

Correct, it only encrypts your home folder

 

[Discoverer]

After waiting for over 2 hours, I decided to shut down. After turning the MacBook on again, I checked the FileVault settings.

It appears that FileVault is turned on. However, I will not trust the result. I will format again and keep FileVault off.

 

[kresh]

Did you try creating a new admin account and see if you can view the home folder for the FileVault protected account? Even if you you change the "Sharing & Permissions" from the new admin account giving the new admin account read/write permissions to the protected home folder you should not be able to gain access to that home folder. If you can then FileVault is not working.