Keeping private images...private?

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Forgive me if this seems like a dumb question. I have always liked to get a rudimentary understanding how something works even before I find myself in a position of using it.

Pointless example: The year was 1985 and I remember staying up for hours looking at and shaking a Transformers box in an attempt to figure how how it transformed before buying it. Whenever I did get it, it went from robot to gun instantly thanks to my snappy research!

(as I recall, Kmart wasn't very happy with me for shaking an unpurchased toy) :p

Moving forward...I don't have a Mac (yet), but I will soon. Can't wait for Uncle Sam to deposit my income tax check so I can join the family. But in the meantime, I had a lingering query. Probably silly, but here goes. I have a tattoo interest. As such I keep a lot (maybe 500) of photos of various work done in mutiple categories and albums of work done and ideas of work to-be-done.

A good 60% of these phones are not kid friendly. O:)

Currently I use a program by Jasc called "Media Center Plus" to organize my photos on my PC. Clearly this will not load or work on the Mac, which isn't really a concern anyway since iPhoto will (likely) do a great job of managing them.

However...

I understand that iPhoto is more or less an open book. I'm not very keen on letting my kids (5 & 7 years old) use my Mac if they have access to albums which aren't kid-friendly. I'm not sure if password-protecting some albums is possible (or a workable solution) in iPhoto, and a removable drive may not be the best of solutions since the thumbnail will likely remain in iPhoto even after its unplugged.

I therefore wonder if a seperate user account is the best solution. Like the PC, I'd likely store these photos in a seperate file on the hard drive, but would they be truely hidden? Lets say a pretty clever 7-year old got on my Mac in the main account, got in iPhoto (which I'd used a few minutes earlier but on the seperate user I'm calling "Tattoo". The plane! The plane! Whoops, sorry about that. Professional not-so-inside joke. Anway would she still be able to access my photos since they're saved on the same hard drive but in a different folder, or can I restrict that folder specifically to the "Tattoo" user account on my Mac?

Thoughts? Ideas? :|
 

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Forgive me if this seems like a dumb question. I have always liked to get a rudimentary understanding how something works even before I find myself in a position of using it.

Pointless example: The year was 1985 and I remember staying up for hours looking at and shaking a Transformers box in an attempt to figure how how it transformed before buying it. Whenever I did get it, it went from robot to gun instantly thanks to my snappy research!

(s I recall, Kmart wasn't very happy with me for shaking an unpurchased toy) :p

Moving forward...I don't have a Mac (yet), but I will soon. Can't wait for Uncle Sam to deposit my income tax check so I can join the family. But in the meantime, I had a lingering query. Probably silly, but here goes. I have a tattoo interest. As such I keep a lot (maybe 500) of photos of various work done in mutiple categories and albums of work done and ideas of work to-be-done.

A good 60% of these phones are not kid friendly. O:)

Currently I use a program by Jasc called "Media Center Plus" to organize my photos on my PC. Clearly this will not load or work on the Mac, which isn't really a concern anyway since iPhoto will (likely) do a great job of managing them.

However...

I understand that iPhoto is more or less an open book. I'm not very keen on letting my kids (5 & 7 years old) use my Mac if they have access to albums which aren't kid-friendly. I'm not sure if password-protecting some albums is possible (or a workable solution) in iPhoto, and a removable drive may not be the best of solutions since the thumbnail will likely remain in iPhoto even after its unplugged.

I therefore wonder if a seperate user account is the best solution. Like the PC, I'd likely store these photos in a seperate file on the hard drive, but would they be truely hidden? Lets say a pretty clever 7-year old got on my Mac in the main account, got in iPhoto (which I'd used a few minutes earlier but on the seperate user I'm calling "Tattoo". The plane! The plane! Whoops, sorry about that. Professional not-so-inside joke. Anway would she still be able to access my photos since they're saved on the same hard drive but in a different folder, or can I restrict that folder specifically to the "Tattoo" user account on my Mac?

Thoughts? Ideas? :|
Your best options I believe are:
1) Use Filevault with a seperate user account. Everything in the account is encrypted as as single sparse image. The disadvantage is individual files are not backed up as in Time Machine. So backing it up means backing up the entire sparse image each time, rather than changed files.
2) In my opinion (as I mentioned in a previous post) your best option is to pick up Aperture from the APP store ($79) and put your Tattoo pictures in a seperate Aperture library in its own encrypted disk image. This does not have to be on an external drive. The library will be innaccessible and for all practical intents invisible until you open the disk image by double-clicking on it and entering your password.
Are there other options. Probably, but these both work, have their own shortcomings, and are relatively easy to set up and manage.

If you need any more specifics on how to do either or both of these post back or PM once you get your Mac. I would also reccomend 'Snow Leopard, The Missing Manual' as it details exactly how to do both of these.
 
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Good suggestion. This was meant to expand the issue a bit more. I have a tendency of talking through issues, particularly when there isn't anything I can do to figure it out myself. I'm sure that, Mac-in-hand, I'll figure a lot of these things out on my own...however there are a lot of smart cookies online here. A little extra exposure never hurts.
 

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Good suggestion. This was meant to expand the issue a bit more. I have a tendency of talking through issues, particularly when there isn't anything I can do to figure it out myself. I'm sure that, Mac-in-hand, I'll figure a lot of these things out on my own...however there are a lot of smart cookies online here. A little extra exposure never hurts.

No problem. The bottomline is you either encrypt your files or segregate them (or both) if you want to limit access. How you do that is really up to you. There is another option, using iPhoto, of setting up a seperate Library and using iPhoto Library Manager (a free APP) to switch to it, but I am not certain that would totally prevent leakage. But, since it is free it might be worth playing with.

Again, I would highly reccomend picking up David Pogue's 'Missing Manual' book. It is a good read and covers this and related topics fairly well.

It is available in electronic as well as hard copy from Amazon. I had the hard copy of the Leopard version and just picked up the Kindle format of the Snow Leopard update.
 
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Your best options I believe are:
1) Use Filevault with a seperate user account.

STOP !!!!!
I wouldnt use FV. As much as i agree with the rest of Razor's post DONT USE THIS !!!

Filevault is not what it seems. If you use this you will have problems later. There are untold thread in here with people having trouble with FileVault. Have a read of Peoples Take on FileVault and then tell me you want to use it.
If you have SHHHHH Secret Squirrel stuff to hide then this could be for you, if not STAY AWAY from FileVault.
Needed to post this now ill look for another soulution.

You really DONT want to use FV. Apple havnt told you the whole story. BIG chance of having a corrupt file/folder and if you have only 1 then you wont be able to access it either :)
Sorry for this sort of post but i need to warn people off it :)

Cheers Ill be back

EDIT : For all those things you want to hide there is HideFolders. This works very well but it has a 30day trial. I bought the App a long time ago after my problems with FileVault. These are the Aussie prices

Hide Folders Pro
A convenient way to hide personal files and folders.

[ AUD: $27.00 ] Single Computer License
[ AUD: $32.00 ] Family License (up to 5 computers)
[ AUD: $106.00 ] Company License (up to 12 computers)

For piece of mind its not a bad price . . .

HTH

Cheers
 
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Score. That iPhoto Library Manager might be a good trial, I'll definitely try it. Worst case it doesn't work, but I can experiment with it.

Has anyone else tried the seperate user account scenario?
 

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STOP !!!!!
I wouldnt use FV. As much as i agree with the rest of Razor's post DONT USE THIS !!!

Filevault is not what it seems. If you use this you will have problems later. There are untold thread in here with people having trouble with FileVault. Have a read of Peoples Take on FileVault and then tell me you want to use it.
If you have SHHHHH Secret Squirrel stuff to hide then this could be for you, if not STAY AWAY from FileVault.
Needed to post this now ill look for another soulution.

You really DONT want to use FV. Apple havnt told you the whole story. BIG chance of having a corrupt file/folder and if you have only 1 then you wont be able to access it either :)
Sorry for this sort of post but i need to warn people off it :)

Cheers Ill be back

Tatooed,
Thanks for the info. For the record Filevault wasn't my first reccomendation because it is a space hog, but I never encountered any problems with using it or lost any data because of it. I can see after reading your post that that is certainly a potential.

I still think the best option is an encrypted disk image.
1) It is almost as secure as Filevault
2) If takes up far less space and can be included in Timemachine backups
3) It doesn't require a seperate user account

There are also third party applications, such as Knox, produced by the same people who gave us 1Password. Don't know if I would go that route simply to keep tattoo pictures away from the little ones.
 
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Tatooed,
Thanks for the info. For the record Filevault wasn't my first reccomendation because it is a space hog, but I never encountered any problems with using it or lost any data because of it. I can see after reading your post that that is certainly a potential.

My pleasure mate. It really is a dog of a thing and as i said there are too many threads in here with people having problems with it . .

I still think the best option is an encrypted disk image.
1) It is almost as secure as Filevault
2) If takes up fare less space and can be included in Timemachine backups
3) It doesn't require a seperate user account

There are also third party applications, such as Knox, produced by the same people who gave us 1Password. Don't know if I would go that route simply to keep tattoo pictures away from the little ones.

Yea i agree. encypted Disk Image could be the way for the OP. Simple to do as well.
@OP read of this  kb article How to create a password-protected (encrypted) disk image in Mac OS X 10.3 or later and you should be on your way :)

Cheers
 
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Is a separate user account for the kids (either to share or individual accounts for each) an option for you?
Easy to set up and as the administrator, you can set all kinds of parental limitations, etc.

Unless you don't like logging in and out of your/their account each time. (you can set a password on your account and not tell them for additional "privacy")
 
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Seperate Login Accounts

Is a separate user account for the kids (either to share or individual accounts for each) an option for you?
Easy to set up and as the administrator, you can set all kinds of parental limitations, etc.

Unless you don't like logging in and out of your/their account each time. (you can set a password on your account and not tell them for additional "privacy")

Plus one for this solution as this is exactly what I was thinking.
Unless there is a reason that we do not know about it appears to me to be the simplest and most effective solution that will not effect your Time Machine backup.

DavidH
 

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Seperate user accounts can work. The two disadvantages are:
1) Lose the ability to share iPhoto Library. If you don't share then you have to continuously maintain and update seperate photo libraries. This may not be an issue depending on your own needs however
2) You have to exercise discipline and log out each and every time you leave your Mac. Again, this can be workable. But if you are truly set on privacy for information, you probably need to go a little further.
 
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Out of all the options, I think the Seperate user accounts will (probably) work the best. Naturally I'll have to wait until I've got the machine and then see if it works for me. Extra step, sure, but I don't mind logging in and out of that account if it keeps the kiddos out of my tattoo pages, and the bonus would be the ability to have a background I wouldn't normally keep up around the kids either. Win.

Yeah you know us tattoo guys are rather eccentric... :p
 
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Seperate user accounts can work. The two disadvantages are:
1) Lose the ability to share iPhoto Library. If you don't share then you have to continuously maintain and update seperate photo libraries. This may not be an issue depending on your own needs however
2) You have to exercise discipline and log out each and every time you leave your Mac. Again, this can be workable. But if you are truly set on privacy for information, you probably need to go a little further.


For point 1: could he not create a separate iPhoto library and share only THAT library for the second (or third) user account ? I think that's possible.

For point 2: There's an option to lock the Mac after x amount of time (could be instantly and you can also use a shortcut key to trigger the lock). But now what I'm wondering (since I don't use this lock feature) is whether or not you're able to log into a different account from that lock screen ?

That would solve everything.

Edit: Additionally, if you look at my screen shot: If option doesn't exist to simply change the user name and password after waking from sleep, then perhaps it will work if you set the option to have it log out as it goes to sleep as well.

Doug

Screen shot 2011-02-21 at 1.48.37 PM.jpg
 

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Creating separate iPhoto libraries is definitely an option that will work. I use this myself when I use iPhoto (not for privacy sake, but to keep the libraries to a more manageable size). I use iPhotolibrarymanager to create and switch between them.

But, having raised three kids, depending on the sensitivity the OP places on his files (and only he knows that), if the files are unencrypted and tempting they WILL be found.

Encrypted disk images are quick, easy and almost fault free. The only problem is you have to. take the time to open them first.

Every suggestion I have seen here to me has merit. It all falls to the OP to do a risk benefit analysis. Honestly, I have no real idea how sensitive tattoo pictures are when it comes to kids. I was just responding to the initial request for aid in keeping them private.
 
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Thank you all! Great suggestions. Yeah I suppose a lot of this is coming from general paranoia of my little girls stumbling across some graphic or perhaps inappropriate location tattoo pictures from current or past customers I catalog for my business, some of which can be somewhat to very "showy" (your milage may vary if you consider this to be classified as porn or not).

All the same, I'd rather not take the risk. :p
 
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Ohh so you are a artist. Was waiting to see what the *tattoo* pics you wanted to hide was all about, as I honestly thought it was code for something else lol

As being a inked man myself and love all my ink, designing (or help my tattooist to design) all mine except one, im interested if you have a site of designs or work you have done ??

Always looking for inspiration and ideas to incorporate into my next sitting :)

Have only recently brainstormed to continue my black/greyshade full length sleeve.

Oh and if you have any Flash sites that would be great too, as im looking for a Koi, and im looking for a specific style

All good if not, but glad you will be able to hide them from the kids :)

Cheers
 
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Hi. I would first of all buy a used, cheap Amazon copy of David Pogue's Snow Leopard: The Missing Manual (as others have suggested). It's a great read and you'll learn an insane amount of stuff while laughing as you read.

I would also set up different user accounts, and make sure to set it up in System Preferences that when your personal (administrator) account goes to sleep, you'll need to enter your password to wake it.

Finally, echoing yet again the smart suggestions earlier here, you should stick your dicey pics in a folder which you will then lock -- by encrypting it as a disk image (sounds hard; but it's easy). Then, stick the disk image (which can't be accessed without a password anyway -- and dont store this password in your Mac's keychain!) in a hidden nook on your HD. You'd need a **** genius 7 yr old to access your scandalous tattoo archive after all that.

And yes, based only on what I've read in various threads, I'd be wary of FireVault.
 
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Ohh so you are a artist. Was waiting to see what the *tattoo* pics you wanted to hide was all about, as I honestly thought it was code for something else lol

Bah, I won't lie, I do have the occasional "inspirational" picture thrown in with the rest which may not necessarily add to the intrinsic value to the collection as a whole, but hey...I'm a guy. :D

Oddly enough, I can tell you that the best idea-source for ink seems to be the deinspirational sites rather than portfolio work. Ugliest Tattoos - Funny Tattoos comes to mind. Seeing what not to do seems to inspire me more than what to do. Maybe I'm backwards.
 

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