Question About How Long Filevault Should Take To Run

[KevinSR]

I have a 2020 MacBook Air m1 and decided to turn on Filevault yesterday. It only took about 10 seconds! Does that sound right for about 50GB of data?

 

[Bigwaff]

I have a 2020 MacBook Air m1 and decided to turn on Filevault yesterday. It only took about 10 seconds! Does that sound right for about 50GB of data?

Yes. With Apple Silicon, by default, the storage is automatically encrypted with an encryption key stored in the Secure Enclave. Turning on File Vault encrypts the encryption key in the Secure Enclave. With File Vault on, you'll have to enter your system password on start up to decrypt the encryption key so Mac can boot.

 

[KevinSR]

So that's why it would only take 10 seconds for the encryption process? It used to take hours to encrypt a Mac.