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I want to encrypt at least my home partition on my MacBook Pro running OS X 10.5. I know both File Vault and TrueCrypt would do this, but I also want to keep on using Time Machine to back up my files. This article seems to indicate that using File Vault means that Time Machine won't back up my files while I am signed in:

It will begin backing up all files to the connected disk except for those users who have FileVault turned on and are currently logged in: they will have their files backed up when they log out.

That's no good. While I hope never to need my Time Machine backup, I do require that my files are backed up regularly, and am not willing to log off during the day to ensure this happens.

What are my options?

3 Answers 3

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Full Disk Encryption from Check Point will encrypt your hard drive but also works with Time Machine. The Time Machine backup will run seamlessly in the background and stored unencrypted.

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  • Looks like it may work, so I'm +1'ing this answer. However, they seem to go out of their way not to give a price on the website or allow you to actually purchase the software. Nov 20, 2009 at 21:34
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    Pointsec has lots of limitations at this point. You can't encrypt external drives, only internal drives... (So no USB or Firewire drives)... Limited support for Mac Mini's, etc... If you add an internal drive (eg. mac pro) you have to unencrypt, and then reencrypt.. So evaluate it carefully first... Jan 8, 2010 at 19:48
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If you're still running 10.5, check out PGP Whole Disk Encryption. I ran it when I was on Leopard; basically the same as Check Point but they actually provide pricing (CP is corporate-licensing only I think) and you can purchase/download from their website.

If you've gone to 10.6, you're out of luck until they (PGP) release 10.0 with Snow Leopard support. It's "forthcoming." Also be forewarned, PGP is legendary for poor customer support. However, the product is bulletproof.

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  • Thank you. I previously used PGP Whole Disk Encryption on a Windows machine. I was very disappointed when they discovered a security flaw and refused to fix it in the affected version. In order to resolve the security hole, you had to buy an upgrade. Still, at least they list a price on their website. Dec 13, 2009 at 18:33
  • PGP whole disk encryption now states it supports Snow Leopard (uk.store.pgp.com/whole_disk_encryption.html)
    – MPritchard
    Apr 27, 2010 at 7:05
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The answer now, of course, is to upgrade to OS X Lion and use FileVault 2. This handles full-disk encryption and works with Time Machine.

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