Using FileVault

[MarkW19]

As I've just got a laptop for the first time (MacBook Pro), I'm now concerned about physical theft, if anyone manages to get their hands on it.

I want to encrypt/protect my personal files, so that no-one can EVER get at them (or make it incredibly difficult/almost impossible).

I want something seamless for this, that just does its job, without me having to think about it. Will Filevault do this for me? What about performance - I do a lot of heavily-intensive audio work in Logic and Mainstage, which accesses a lot of samples from my HD, etc. - I guess I'd have to store all the audio stuff OUTSIDE of my home directory so that Filevault doesn't do anything to it? Then, how about normal stuff like iMovie use, Photoshop, general OS use - will I notice that Filevault is running because of a bit of a performance decrease?

Thanks for any help!

Can anyone help?

 

[Techguy172]

File Vault should work for that but don't forget your password because if you do your screwed there's no way of getting it back.

 

[MarkW19]

Can anyone help with this? Is FileVault very secure for protecting the contents of my home directory, even when connected up to another machine (Mac, Windows, whatever), to try and get my data off it? And what about backups - will SuperDuper be able to back up (I don't use Time Machine) my entire HD, despite it constantly encrypting/decrypting? ie. Will it know what's going on with it, and allow me to do a full restore/boot from the backup?

If I enable it, do I have to choose a much more secure login password? Otherwise when logged in, FileVault isn't effective anyway?

What about the performance issue - as FileVault is constantly encrypting/decrypting, does that mean files that are used with Logic/Final Cut etc. will suffer?

Thanks for any advice.