Filevault on computers with SSD

[Dan Connors]

Maybe a dumb question, but I think the point of file encryption is to keep others from reading your files if, say, you lost your computer. Assuming you are the administrator and have login enabled on your computer, it seems to me that's likely safe enough, as there is no hard drive that can be removed and attached to another computer as an external drive. I think the SSD drive is actually soldered to the motherboard. So I'm thinking if one believes the likelihood that the person who has your computer both has the skills and the desire to unsolder your SSD and solder into a spare computer they just happen to have is minuscule, not much point in encrypting. Your thoughts?

 

[chscag]

Where did you get the idea that an SSD is soldered to the motherboard? Even the SSD which is currently being used in the new MacBook Air machines is replaceable. As a matter of fact, Other World Computing sells the replacements.

The only viable way to prevent someone from swapping out your hard drive in the event of a stolen machine, is to protect the machine by applying a Firmware Password. You can find out more about that on the Apple KB site.

 

[harryb2448]

Wow who ever told you SSD are soldered? They slide in and out in the identical fashion to a normal hard drive with the same connections. In a desktop a mounting dock holds the SSD if it is a 2.5"model, and the dock fits into the 3.5" sled.

And be very very careful using Firmware Password Protection. Regularly see threads where folk have utilised this and then promptly forgot the password.