01-25-2007, 01:10 PM

Hi there,

I've been trying out File Vault but I don't quite understand it and wondered if anyone could explain it to me.

I've encrypted my Home Folder (which is apparently good if anyone steals my laptop) but as far as I can see, my Home Folder is still easily accessible but none of my documents can be searched for on Spotlight. So how does it work? How does it keep people out and is it worth turning on?

Thanks

Shark

01-25-2007, 02:46 PM

Originally Posted by Shark Trager

Hi there,

I've been trying out File Vault but I don't quite understand it and wondered if anyone could explain it to me.

I've encrypted my Home Folder (which is apparently good if anyone steals my laptop) but as far as I can see, my Home Folder is still easily accessible but none of my documents can be searched for on Spotlight. So how does it work? How does it keep people out and is it worth turning on?

Thanks

Shark

What file vault does it encrypt your home folder like you said, but you can still have full access to it because you are logged in with your password. If someone stole your laptop they wouldn't have your password so they would need to locate your home folder (making it so it doesn't show up in Spotlight helps with that) and then break the encryption, which is difficult. The average thief would just give up after seeing that it's encrypted and reformat your hard drive, never seeing any of your sensitive personal data (credit card numbers, phone number, address, ect)

01-25-2007, 03:23 PM

Thanks Ben.

Ok, that makes sense. But it still means I can't use Spotlight doesn't it?

shark