On Sep 12, 2011, at 1:26 PM, Nathan Sims wrote: > File Vault is a tantalizing option, but I have always been a bit intimidated > to enable it: > 1. Is File Vault one-way and forever on a volume? No
> 2. When it is first enabled, does it laboriously go through your /Users > account and encrypt everything in one fell swoop, and then afterwards encrypt > files only as they are saved? "Laboriously"? It's a computer; it doesn't get calluses. File Vault 2 encrypts the entire volume, not just your user account. And the initial encryption pass allows you to continue using the machine while it crunches the numbers. > 3. How much overhead is there when its on, any perceived lagging or slowness? Reports are that it is hardly noticeable, at least on modern machines. > 4. What happens if/when you turn File Vault off? It decrypts the volume; see answer #1 above. > 5. If the master password is forgotten, is recovery hopeless? Apple provides a 24 digit Recovery Key that will decrypt the drive and an escrow service if you'd like them to hold the key for you. If all keys are forgotten, then yes, recovery is not possible._______________________________________________ MacOSX-talk mailing list MacOSX-talk@omnigroup.com http://www.omnigroup.com/mailman/listinfo/macosx-talk
