A friend had his laptop stolen and now I'm paranoid. I have a ton of personal and work stuff on here that if I lost would suck but if someone was smart enough to read it I would be in a lot of trouble. I have the basics on like passwords etc but no encryption so I'm curious to know if I were to take my HD out and add it to another computer as a secondary disk could all the information be read? I'm assuming if so then the only way to stop this would be to encrypt the HD which I'm not really sure I want to do just yet.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Security: Can I pull my HD out, put it in as a secondary and read it?
- Thread starter detz
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
If it isn't encrypted, yes, all your files can be read. FileVault is simple encryptor which locks your Home folder
If it's only a handful of files/folders you need protecting look at the built-in encrypted disk image option. if you need more protection, then FileVault offers the only free option I know of. It only protects your home folder as well. There are some full disk encryption options though, but they cost money, such as PGP and Check Point.
Even without pulling it out of your Mac it can be read using target disk mode and connecting it to another Mac via FireWire.
