Anyone Use FileVault?

I'm just curious.

I travel a lot and have not worried often, but lately I've been thinking of just how much data I could lose and how damaging it would be if someone got to my date, even my web browser.

So I'm thinking of using FileVault on my Powerbook just when I travel, but I remember reading about problems with it a while ago.

Does anyone use it successfully? Anyone have issues with it?

Thanks.

No text

I saw a comment on Slashdot today - it looks like you can export filevault's encryption certificate from your laptop so that you have a backup. This sounds like a VERY good idea.

http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=179238&threshold=1&commentsort=0&mode=thread&cid=14849629

I couldn't find any more info on this by Googling, so you'll need to play around with it for yourself to make sure it wworks, but I did find lots of Filevault horror stories:
http://jwz.livejournal.com/601452.html

Stroller

--
Critiques, I love critiques! It's so much easier than taking photos!
I'm a n00b - my opinions may have no value.

--I used it for a while then opted out; whenever you boot up or wake the computer from sleep Filevault wants to bring the encrypted files up to date and warns that if you click "okay" it will taka a while - and it does. Meanwhile you twiddle your thumbs. So it got to be a pain in that regard and I disabled it.

Cheers,
Tom
Deecy//



http://www.flickr.com/photos/provocative/

http://tomdeecy.blogspot.com/

but then the data on my laptop isn't sensative. I use my laptop as storage for my camera and I limit what personal data resides on it. In anycase encrpyting your home folder just seems like a bad idea to me. One little burp and your data is gone. I'd rather not take a chance, add on the issues appe had when they rolled tis out was enough to scare me away for good. While they have fixed those issues, I still don't want to take a chance.

Mike

I used it on my PowerBook for quite a while, then gave up on it. If all you have is documents it's no big deal, but if you start adding images to your home folder then it's a lot of work for little gain. You might try keeping your images and other large files outside of your home folder, say in users/Shared, assuming they are not sensitive.

I have a few sensitive files that I keep in an encrypted DMG that's in my iDisk. For example, I have an Excel spreadsheet where I track all of my software and hardware serial numbers, license keys, etc. per vendor and version. (Highly recommended - eliminates the need to chase disks most of the time. Just use copy/paste to eliminate any operator entry errors.) I am careful to 'eject' the DMG when not in use and only update it on my Power Mac as I occasionally receive an iDisk conflict on my PowerBook after I access files from it. (When this occurs I always choose to update the PB from iDisk since the PM maintains the official copies.)

I'm going to try it as an experiment, and here's why.

First, my Powerbook is strictly for travel. All my other stuff is on my PowerMacs and is back up a few times. In other words, I don't have to worry about a FileVault catastropher ruining my data.

Second, on the road, I'll just download photos to the root level of my hard drive, so that won't be a problem. I already moved my iTunes folder so I'm not encrypting 15 gigs of music.

Third, I really do want to protect sensitive stuff when I travel, including browsers with keychained passwords and stuff to all my sensitive information. That would be a major drag if I lost this thing and someone just started paypal'ing and ebaying until I cancelled all that stuff.

So I'm going to try it. If it's fairly smooth, I'll leave it enabled and have a little bit more peace of mind on the road.

If it sucks, I'll revert and turn it off.

I'll keep people posted if you're interested.

I'm just now clearing my swap files and zeroing all empty space.

I do the same thing - move my MP3s to Music, but otherwise my home directory is FileVaulted. I also have encrypted swap enabled since moving to 10.4. Has worked fine.