What is FileVault on a Mac? When Should You Enable FileVault?
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 24 มิ.ย. 2021
- This video covers exactly what FileVault is on your Apple Mac computer. When should you use FileVault and what added security does FileVault provide you? If you are interested in Apple and MacOS security then watch this video.
In this video about FileVault we will cover the following:
1). What is FileVault built into MacOS?
2). How do you enable FileVault on your Mac?
3). What is the #1 reason for enabling FileVault?
4). Do you need to enable FileVault on newer M1 Macs?
5). Pros or reasons to enable FileVault
6). Cons or reasons not to enable FileVault.
So, FileVault can add to your overall security on your MacOS computer. It's easy to turn on and will provide an added level of security to your Mac computer when more security is always a good thing.
If you are interested in Apple product videos including tips and tricks then please subscribe to our channel. We have hundreds of Apple related videos to help you get the most out of your Apple computer. - วิทยาศาสตร์และเทคโนโลยี
Thanks for this video. Was setting up my computer and I have used it before but needed a bit more info to understand it better!!
Welcome and thanks for watching.
Excellent explanation and reasons to proceed with FileVault…
Thanks!!!
Thanks for feedback and watching
Excellent overview: detailed and serious, yet approachable and pleasant. Only thing I can share is the great option of using the Diceware approach to make strong and easily memorized passphrases.
Thanks for watching and the nice words Grant. I appreciate it and also sharing the Diceware tip.
Thanks for the video, I'm new on Apple, and this was a great information.
Thanks for the nice words and for watching Diany.
Thank you for sharing detailed video on FileVault
Thanks for watching.
Thanks for the clean and short video!👍🏽
Thanks for watching and supporting the channel.
to the point, useful overview and summary thank you
Thank you for the comment and for watching.
Thanks a lot Craig👍
It's really necessary for me
Thanks for watching
Perfect content! Play perfectly in 1.5x.
Thanks for watching and the note.
Thanks for the video, I have a MacBook 2017/ M3 processor, and had to turn File Vault off due to issues with the "Spinning Disk". After disabling; the system worked as expected. No issues on my iMacs or Mac Mini. Thought I'd throw that out. Looking forward to seeing your next video....
Thanks. Yes, in the video I said it could be an issue for spinning HDDs or older machines and it's good to know that even on a 2017 (with no SSD) it can cause performance issues. I know of the M1 systems it's very smooth and you really can't notice it after testing on a few machines. My 2020 i5 Macbook also is buttery smooth with it turned on. Thanks again for watching and hope you are doing good.
Thanks. Really helpful!
Thank you.
Thanks!
You bet!
Your videos are always great, always a breath of fresh air. However... As a writer, and as someone who used to design training materials...which is really all a TH-cam instruction video is...you could do with going on a word diet. : ) This could be easily achieved by scripting your videos. You do a lot of 'talking around'; you don't actually get into the gist of the video until after the two-minute mark. I'm also thinking of the maxim KISS. In a nutshell: don't tell us what you're going to do (at least not. verbally), just do it. -Recently, I listened to a friend of mine on the phone explaining to a customer why they hadn't had their product delivered. He spent a good five minutes laying out the situation, going into great detail, really explaining in-depth why she hadn't received what she'd paid for. When the call had ended, I asked him if he felt better. He asked me what I meant. Well, all the customer needed was an apology, a -_-very-_- brief explanation, and a promise to make things right.-
Thanks for the tips. Slowly but surely trying to clean up videos. My issue right now is my time. I have a 50 hour per week job and squeeze in 3 to 4 videos a week. So that is the only reason sometimes why I cannot totally script out everything in advance but over time I hope to. Thanks for watching.
@@craigneidel “Je n’ai fait celle-ci plus longue que parce que je n’ai pas eu le loisir de la faire plus courte.” ("I have made this longer than usual because I have not had time to make it shorter.") Various, but especially Blaise Pascal in 1657.
well done
Thanks for the feedback.
Hey Greg that was great, as a newbie to computers operation systems I found this very informative. I have a question for you, if I'm taking my MacBook Pro in to be repaired (not apple store but a certified service centre) do you think it is necessary for me to be giving them the password/ recovery key to my FileVault for the technician to see if their repairs have worked? Thank You
I'm not sure if they need it but I would see if anybody else had to provide that info. I understand your hesitation but just not sure if they need it or not. I would ask them directly why they need it.
Thx
Thanks for watching
Hi Craig! I own a MPB with T2 chip and I'm wondering if you would recommend me to turn on FileVault even though I have personal data on it. Will my data be safe during encryption process? I prefer to double check. Thanks!!
Hello Joelle. That is a question for Apple as I just don't want to be responsible for the data on somebody's system. But, overall I know many people that use this and have not see any issues at all. I'm sure they have safety features to protect data since that would have been a major issue otherwise. I would just email Apple to get confirmation.
How is a TimeMachine or Carbon Copy Clone backup affected by FileVault? Are the backups also encrypted? If you need to restore a computer using a TImeMachine backup? Does the encryption impede or affect a restore?
There are a ton of videos and things on Google on this if you look it up but here is a bit of info from somebody I saw online......
If FileVault is turned on then the disk inside your Mac is encrypted and files are decrypted on-the-fly when any software opens/reads them.
TimeMachine (or any other backup software) backs up the unencrypted content of files. If you want the TimeMachine backup disk to be secure then you must configure TimeMachine to encrypt the backup. Make sure that you have the encryption password somewhere safe in case you need it. For example, store it in the password manager on your smartphone.
Everyone talks about how to secure your date with encryption like FileVault but don't talk about password complexity. They can still get into a FileVault if you don't have a good password that doesn't use different word combinations and complexity to secure it. Passwords are the first line of defense. If a person is stilling your hard drive to get to your files FileVault will not stop a hacker that can hack your weak password. The minimum password length should be 10 characters that are a combination of words not just a mix of characters and numbers and symbols. multi-Word passwords have been found harder to crack.
Thanks for sharing and that is true. Passwords are very important for sure.
Adding lots of symbols or substitutions can make it harder to remember without adding much complexity
Craig, thanks for the video. New to Mac (ancient Windows guy). I'm still struggling with concepts.
I heard you say that all new M1 Macs with T2 chip are encrypted by default. Assuming FileVault is NOT enabled......I don't understand how having a thief remove the ssd from my laptop would allow access to encrypted data. Can you take another shot at explaining?
FileVault has an encryption process that works when you boot up MacOS on the device. So that part encrypts data at that time. If somebody removes the disk when off that feature hasn't activated yet since it's off and they can get your data. But, if you encrypt individual files or folders then you don't have this issue and only when you leave it up to FileVault to do that but don't encrypt anything yourself.
I had the same question and have to admit that I still don't get it. If the drive is encrypted by default with the T2 Macs (and FileVault is turned off) what is actually encrypted then if you can pull out the drive and the data is not encrypted? In my definition that is no encryption at all.
Hello I'm new to the whole Mac world and just got one and boy there is a lot to learn. So this might be a very simple question for most but not for me. Hope you can help. Do you have to turn off FileVault to change the login background screen? I know how to change the desktop background but can't seem to find a way for the login screen. Tired a couple of things but haven't worked. Thanks
Yeah, I'm not sure it's worth that but here you go - discussions.apple.com/thread/253382773 - thanks for watching.
@@craigneidel I don’t think it is either so I think I’m going to leave it be. Security is more important then a background picture. Thanks for your help.
This video is great. But just get into the works of the video. Thanks
Thanks for watching.
If I enable FileVault would I have to enter two passwords at boot up or just the one login password at the start of MacOS?
One at login.
I do not have a mac with the security chip. But my mac does have an SSD. Will there still be some change in bootup and overall performance?
Maybe a little bit. I would just try it and you can turn it off later if you wanted to.
Thanks. Any reason to not use the same password as for device?
That was just for added security
My take on this is: IF you have a company computer, have a lot of top level sensitive data it's a requirement. For the average Joe, a decent password is good enough. Pulling one of these SSDs and getting the data seem a far reach.
Yes, not a bad take on it. It's not hard to remove a hard drive but most criminals have an 50 IQ.
So is the only application this is useful for in physical access to the drive? I keep it on for hacking, spyware, and someone accessing my personal information. Does it do nothing for this?
Not really it also protects the data as it requires login credentials or data cannot be accessed. Here is a bit more from Apple but the main reason since Apple data is already secure is the added protection if the media (Hard Drive) is removed the data cannot be accessed. But overall it adds extra layer to data protection even if data is on the system - support.apple.com/guide/deployment/intro-to-filevault-dep82064ec40/web
does FileVault have the same flaw as iPhone where it’s useless after BFU “before first unlock”?
I don't think so but will need to research a bit more so that I provide an accurate answer. Thanks for watching.
How can they "remove" the drive. These are SSDs soldered to the motherboard. Are you saying someone can de-solder the SSDs re-solder them onto another mac and get access to my data? That seems over the top.
It may seem over the top but if you are of enough interest to someone with enough resources it’s definitely possible and if not encrypted ur data will be recovered
Fair point - but of course with older macs you can.
Is it still suitable for M1 Mac? because if you said FileVault is useful for protecting data loss from physical the storage, while (as far as I know) for the M1/M2 Mac the storage hardware is embedded in the mainboard..
the question is more like.. is there still any chance you can takeout the physical storage from M1/M2 mainboard MacBook and slave it to other machine?
I think Luke miani did that in a video so it could be possible. They still have it on the new systems so I assume it still has value.
I'm researching Bluetooth keyboards for a Mac Studio. If Filevault is on, then it is impossible for the keyboard to establish a connection in order to type in the password, (apparently). A separate wired keyboard is required in this case. I learned this while reading customer reviews of the LOGITECH MX Keys Mini for Mac.
I'm not super familiar with that, since I didn't have an issue at the time, but I can test some things out and repost if I find anything out.
@@craigneidel I'm not sure if this is true since I haven't bought a Bluetooth keyboard for my Mac Studio yet. I do have a keyboard that I can plug in to it in order to overcome this hurdle, (if it proves to be a hurdle). An investigation would be appreciated and could be the source of a new vid.
I'll see if I can get to that but if you have a keyboard that you can plug in as a "just in case measure" I would go ahead and try it and see what happens. Thanks for watching.
does this protect against hackers that have already gone onto your Mac?
Once they get in then it's hard and some things could still protect but others may not. If you know you have something on the machine it's best to do a full reinstall etc.
Is the security level the same at the lock screen whether it's after booting up or just waking up from having the lid closed?
I think if you need to put in the password it would be similar but I'm not 100% sure.
@@craigneidelit’s only after a reboot that you see the decrypting white progress bar, so it made me wonder
Got, it, and thanks for update.
Can I still use Bootcamp with it enabled?
You should be able to find some info online - here is a quick search - thanks - www.reddit.com/r/bootcamp/comments/iqmm8w/installing_windows_using_bootcamp_on_a_mac_with/
I don't get it. If new macs like the M1/M2/M3 are already "encrypted", then why would they be accessible to someone who takes the drive? How is that encryption different from filevault?
There is quite a bit of this online from Apple. I would do a search and visit Apples website for more info. Thanks for watching.
Im trying to find videos on Filevault with Hackintosh but can't find any.. still a good video tho!
Thanks, and good luck. I haven't done any videos like that yet.
After going through the process said my laptop went off, please is it normal
Please refer to the Apple page on this as each system is different. They should have good info there. Thank you.
So basically, if you don't have full disk encryption, an unauthorised user could access unencrypted files, such as private sustem files: meaning they could crack your password (this is because it has the password hash, or the encrypted drive key)
The people that shoud use FDE: Insecure password users, People targeted by governments or big organisations, or Those with a high threat model such as a business.
That said, make sure you have a secure password at least on your account, since that is the last mechanism. If it's shorter than 11 long or is made of 1 dictionary word, it could be cracked very quickly, or in a reasonable amount of time.
Thanks for the additional information and for watching.
good luck "yanking out" the memory module on a silicon mac. Those puppies are soldiered on the system board...
Yes, I know but still possible if somebody knows what they are doing. Luke Miani actually was able to change them out in about an hour.