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.
Encrypt removable USB
- Thread starter t0m3k
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
If it’s just some data and not all contents, try a disk image. Open disk utility and select File > new Image > Blank image. Fill out the wizard and choose size, encryption level and a password, etc. Save this file on the USB. Mount the image as normal whenever you want to view or add files.
As said above, for normal people and normal data, creating disk image with encrypption is easiest. Advantage - you can copy that image (=file) as needed to other media, backup etc. Disadvantage, you have to mount it manually. Other alternatives are to format the disk as encrypted (either in disk tools or right click on the drive and select encrypt option). Advantage - mounts automatically and is transparent to use if your keychain has the password.
None of these will protect you against government agency but against most others, sure. And then you can buy special USB disks which are encrypted with their own "smarts" and require password to mount the data part. These are expensive and you can buy some which may be real challenge for anyone. These are used by government agencies to protect their data. These are the ones most secure but are major overkill for most of regular humans.
None of these will protect you against government agency but against most others, sure. And then you can buy special USB disks which are encrypted with their own "smarts" and require password to mount the data part. These are expensive and you can buy some which may be real challenge for anyone. These are used by government agencies to protect their data. These are the ones most secure but are major overkill for most of regular humans.
i did this: right-click on the drive in the sidebar, and selected 'encrypt'. i did it on my archive external drive and my backup drive (used with carbon copy cloner). both usb, both formatted AFPS (when i first got them).
now, when i restart or boot my imac, i have to enter the password for each, then all runs as usual.
the process took days...
now, when i restart or boot my imac, i have to enter the password for each, then all runs as usual.
the process took days...
I use a little script to do the same... slightly more comfy assuming you are always doing the backup of the same dir...
#! /bin/bash
hdiutil create -format UDRO -encryption AES-256 -stdinpass -srcfolder /Users/xyz/Documents/ -volname Backup /Users/xyz/Downloads/$(date +%Y-%m-%d)-Backup.dmg
are you right-clicking on the drive in the sidebar of a finder window?
all my disks are APFS...
EDIT: ah, were you responding to my post above yours? or t0m3k's (about right-clicking)?
EDIT: ah, were you responding to my post above yours? or t0m3k's (about right-clicking)?
Last edited:
More toward "t0m3k"
was just adding to your advice in case "t0m3k" possibly had a drive format that did not work with Big Sur - such as windows formats - which many new drives come formated with - may need to be erased and reformated for APFS
I have a few drives formatted in fat32 and the Encrypt option does not show in the (Right Click) options