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Is it possible to password protect single folders

The Hitman

The Hitman

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 27, 2007
37
1
It's not really possible to do this on Windows (Windows sucks :D)

Anyways.. is it possible to password protect a single folder, to protect important files and whatnot?


Thanks again
 
The Hitman said:
It's not really possible to do this on Windows (Windows sucks :D)

Anyways.. is it possible to password protect a single folder, to protect important files and whatnot?


Thanks again
Click to expand...

with encryption yes. I don't know about anything else, but that would be really nice.
 
Specific instructions for created an encrypted, password-protected folder:

  • Open Applications->Utilities->Disk Utility.
  • Click the "New Image" icon in the toolbar (or use Images->New...->Blank Image)
  • Fill in "Save as:" field with a name.
  • Select an appropriate size
  • Set the excryption to AES-128
  • Keep the format as "read/write disk image"
  • Click "Create"
  • You'll be prompted for a password - enter one
  • Very important: Unselect "Remember password (add to Keychain)" before clicking OK to set the password.

This creates the password-protected .dmg file. Double-click it to open it (supply the password, and don't opt to store it in your keychain, or else anyone in your account can open it). It then looks like a mounted disk image - drag things into/out of it. Eject it to return it to it's password-protected state.

You can email a copy of it anywhere, back it up, whatever... it's safe until you unlock/mount it with the password, and safe again once you "eject" the mounted image.
 
DoFoT9 said:
aaww wow thanks its universal now!!! slow as on rosetta tthnks mate :)
Click to expand...

This will lock the file preventing it from being opened, however it can still be read and saved as anything else and then modified.

He wants something that can secure a file from being opened.
 
I want to make use of the encrypted disk images, but I need one with dynamic size. Is that in any way possible?
 
f1400 said:
I want to make use of the encrypted disk images, but I need one with dynamic size. Is that in any way possible?
Click to expand...


Select a large size and then use Sparse Image as the format. It'll have a ceiling of whatever size you selected, but it'll only actually take up as much space as is required by your data. :)
 
iW00t said:
It is not very stable so to speak. I used to use filevault until one fine day my power went out and I lost a butt load of files. Never again.
Click to expand...


FileVault is different to an encrypted disk image. FileVault applies to your entire Home folder and is buggy, at best. Despite using the same encryption, a DMG is much simpler and therefore less likely to incur data loss.
 
iW00t said:
Encrypted disk images is still the best bet.

Except if your power goes out....

Too bad Truecrypt only runs on superior operating systems.
Click to expand...

Unless you are trying to make a very bad (or obscure) joke then your statement is completely incorrect.

A disk image file encrypted or not does not loose its contents if power is lost to the machine.

And your quip about a 'superior operating system' is just stupid. Truecrypt runs (according to their website) on Vista, XP, 2000, and Linux. If those are 'superior' then you automatically include OSX in that mix as OSX is based on Unix and Linux is a UNIX workalike. If you are only including M$ OSs in your 'superior' statement then you have finally proved that you are nothing more than a TROLL.

Sopranino
 
jsw said:
Specific instructions for created an encrypted, password-protected folder:

  • Open Applications->Utilities->Disk Utility.
  • Click the "New Image" icon in the toolbar (or use Images->New...->Blank Image)
  • Fill in "Save as:" field with a name.
  • Select an appropriate size
  • Set the excryption to AES-128
  • Keep the format as "read/write disk image"
  • Click "Create"
  • You'll be prompted for a password - enter one
  • Very important: Unselect "Remember password (add to Keychain)" before clicking OK to set the password.

This creates the password-protected .dmg file. Double-click it to open it (supply the password, and don't opt to store it in your keychain, or else anyone in your account can open it). It then looks like a mounted disk image - drag things into/out of it. Eject it to return it to it's password-protected state.

You can email a copy of it anywhere, back it up, whatever... it's safe until you unlock/mount it with the password, and safe again once you "eject" the mounted image.
Click to expand...

This is definately what you need!

Rich.
 
Sopranino said:
Unless you are trying to make a very bad (or obscure) joke then your statement is completely incorrect.

A disk image file encrypted or not does not loose its contents if power is lost to the machine.

And your quip about a 'superior operating system' is just stupid. Truecrypt runs (according to their website) on Vista, XP, 2000, and Linux. If those are 'superior' then you automatically include OSX in that mix as OSX is based on Unix and Linux is a UNIX workalike. If you are only including M$ OSs in your 'superior' statement then you have finally proved that you are nothing more than a TROLL.

Sopranino
Click to expand...

It does actually.

I have had countless times when I am forced to shutdown my machine by holding down the power button and on next startup some files are just missing. Imagine a few clusters misplaced on your sparse disk image. Say good bye to a substantial portion of its contents thanks to just a small bit of corruption.

And you have finally proven you are a FANBOI. Sure, OSX is in the same mix as unix and linux. Ok, where are my truecrypt binaries for OSX? Like it or not, without Microsoft Office OSX is dead.

Say what you want about trolling really. I spend way more on Macs more than you do that is for sure. But it really stokes my ire in this area when the provided tools are kind of subpar and the best opensource solution is not available on the Mac.
 
iW00t said:
It does actually.

I have had countless times when I am forced to shutdown my machine by holding down the power button and on next startup some files are just missing. Imagine a few clusters misplaced on your sparse disk image. Say good bye to a substantial portion of its contents thanks to just a small bit of corruption.
Click to expand...

B.S.!! I work with extremely large audio sound files and on the (very odd) occasion when I've been forced to power off I've never suffered a single bit of missing data. Check out the benefits of a journaling file system.

And you have finally proven you are a FANBOI. Sure, OSX is in the same mix as unix and linux. Ok, where are my truecrypt binaries for OSX? Like it or not, without Microsoft Office OSX is dead.
Click to expand...

1) Truecrypt may not have been approached by enough people to do a binary port of their product at this time.
2) Dead without M$ office?? Show me the stats that prove that statement. Apple computers are used by a lot of people in the Arts world and a lot of them don't have M$ office loaded. (I don't myself, and a poll of the audio forums will also show that)
3) Not necessarily a FANBOI but I DON'T like people who spread FUD about anything. Generally speaking I will try to write supportive posts in any forum that I belong to and I take exception to people who post nonsense.

Say what you want about trolling really. I spend way more on Macs more than you do that is for sure. But it really stokes my ire in this area when the provided tools are kind of subpar and the best opensource solution is not available on the Mac.
Click to expand...

1) What you spend on Macs is not relevant to this discussion. It does not make you more or less than anybody else on this board.
2) What provided tools are subpar? And in what manner are they subpar compared to what?
3) If the 'best opensource solution' is not available on the Mac then download that programs source code and compile it on your Mac (hence the term 'open source'). For the most part the sources will compile with very little or no modification.

Sopranino
 
Oss

And you have finally proven you are a FANBOI. Sure, OSX is in the same mix as unix and linux. Ok, where are my truecrypt binaries for OSX? Like it or not, without Microsoft Office OSX is dead.
Click to expand...

Truecrypt is OSS. Port it if you want it, or wait for a port from the Truecrypt team. Being a contributor is better than being a consumer.

Who cares about Office, even in its current state, it doesn't appear to be hindering Apple in the market they have chosen. It certainly doesn't appear to be hurting Linux.
 
Here's a low-tech solution but only useful in a few situations. To hide surprise party details from my wife I wrote all the data to a CD-R, labeled it 'misc system files' and stuck it in a Quicken '98 sleeve.

Neither elegant nor foolproof but did the trick.
 
dmaxdmax said:
Here's a low-tech solution but only useful in a few situations. To hide surprise party details from my wife I wrote all the data to a CD-R, labeled it 'misc system files' and stuck it in a Quicken '98 sleeve.

Neither elegant nor foolproof but did the trick.
Click to expand...

that's even more usefull if your wife happens to be a hacker.

it happens...
 
jsw said:
Specific instructions for created an encrypted, password-protected folder:

  • Open Applications->Utilities->Disk Utility.
  • Click the "New Image" icon in the toolbar (or use Images->New...->Blank Image)
  • Fill in "Save as:" field with a name.
  • Select an appropriate size
  • Set the excryption to AES-128
  • Keep the format as "read/write disk image"
  • Click "Create"
  • You'll be prompted for a password - enter one
  • Very important: Unselect "Remember password (add to Keychain)" before clicking OK to set the password.

This creates the password-protected .dmg file. Double-click it to open it (supply the password, and don't opt to store it in your keychain, or else anyone in your account can open it). It then looks like a mounted disk image - drag things into/out of it. Eject it to return it to it's password-protected state.

You can email a copy of it anywhere, back it up, whatever... it's safe until you unlock/mount it with the password, and safe again once you "eject" the mounted image.
Click to expand...


thanks man, i did that myself too. awesome.
 
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