Two (and a half) FileVault questions

[linuxophile]

And here they are (they should be simple to answer):
1) Can you turn FileVault off after has been turned on?
If yes, will the filesystem become unencrypted?
1') How much of a performance hit does it entail? (After the initial phase).

2) If FileVault is on, and I use scp from terminal to send a file to another computer (a UNIX machine), will it be encrypted? Will I be able to read it on the UNIX machine?
The reason is that I have a cron job that syncs my "research directory" with the department server (UNIX) using rsync. I need the files on the remote UNIX to be unencrypted and readable when I log there.

For some (psychological) reason I am wary in using FileVault, primarily because I don't have that much of sensitive info to begin with, but also because I am not sure whether the process is completely reversible and how really transparent it is.

 

[ppc750fx]

FileVault's performance hit is minimal.

It is completely transparent to almost every application.

It only encrypts the storage -- files appear the same to programs.

 

[The ArchAngel]

And here they are (they should be simple to answer):
1) Can you turn FileVault off after has been turned on?
If yes, will the filesystem become unencrypted?
1') How much of a performance hit does it entail? (After the initial phase).

2) If FileVault is on, and I use scp from terminal to send a file to another computer (a UNIX machine), will it be encrypted? Will I be able to read it on the UNIX machine?
The reason is that I have a cron job that syncs my "research directory" with the department server (UNIX) using rsync. I need the files on the remote UNIX to be unencrypted and readable when I log there.

For some (psychological) reason I am wary in using FileVault, primarily because I don't have that much of sensitive info to begin with, but also because I am not sure whether the process is completely reversible and how really transparent it is.

1.) Yes, you can turn off FileVault. Takes roughly as long to decipher as it does to do the initial disk image encryptoin.

1'.) I haven't personally noticed a performance hit, but I have been using FileVault for several months. I would say any hit to performance could easily go unnoticed.

2.) This should work as well, as long as you're logged in when the job kicks off.