Encrypting a USB Drive on a Mac Made Easy
macOS 10.12.x “Sierra” Edition & 10.13.x “High Sierra” Edition
A YouTube video of these instructions can be found here!
(NOTE: This was written for OS X 10.12.5 “Sierra.” If you’re looking for the Mac OS 10.11.x “El Capitan” edition, click here. The original blog entry written for OS X 10.9 “Mavericks” can be found here)
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Like many of my clients and friends, I use a flash drive (also known as a “USB drive” or “Pen drive” or “Thumb drive” etc.), for backing up important files. One of the things I’ve noticed, though, is how many people put sensitive and personal data on these flash drives but don’t even bother to encrypt them. The reason it’s important to encrypt these flash drives is because these flash drives are usually physically small and can be easily misplaced, lost or stolen. If they are encrypted, you don’t have to worry about the data on them being accessible to someone that may have stolen your flash drive or happened to have found it lying around somewhere.
Apple’s Mac OS X 10.7 “Lion” and later operating systems make it easy to do a full disk encryption of these flash drives. You can also easily encrypt Secure Digital “SD” cards and Micro-SD cards too! SD cards are typically what is used in digital cameras to record the images taken with the camera. Most Macs have built-in SD card slots so Apple has made SD cards very easy and convenient to use.
In order to encrypt a flash drive or SD card (we’ll call them “media” collectively from this point onward), you should either start with brand new media or prepare to reformat the media that you may already have. If your Mac has USB 3.0 ports (most Macs since 2012), you should use USB 3.0 compatible media for this project as on-the-fly encryption can slow down reading and writing to an external drive. Please note that when you reformat this media, you are effectively erasing it so any existing data (e.g. files, folders, programs, etc.) will be lost! If you’re using existing media, you should consider copying or backing up the data on that media to another media first so that you can then copy it back to the encrypted media later. All media seem to come from the factory formatted as FAT32 (a holdover from the old MS-DOS & Windows ’95 era) as this is a disk format that nearly all personal computers, whether they be Mac, Windows, or Linux, can read and write. To encrypt your media, however, you’ll need to format it in a Mac specific format called, “GUID Partition Map.” In other words, you cannot easily create an encrypted disk on the Mac without first having changing the format of the drive from FAT32 to GUID.
The first thing you need to do is insert the media into your Mac. Afterwards, press [COMMAND ⌘] + [SPACE BAR] to bring up Spotlight Search. Type in DISK UTILITY and the first item highlighted should be the Disk Utility application. If it is, press, [RETURN] to select it and it will launch.
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In the screenshot above, I’ve selected my flash drive by clicking on it once in Disk Utility (in my example, it’s called, “Lexar USB Flash Drive” in the left-hand column under the “External” column heading. Once selected, I then clicked on the Erase tab. I then changed the format type to “Mac OS X Extended (Journaled)” using the drop down box as shown in screenshot. At this point, you can type in a name for your media (where it says, “Give Drive a Name” ). Naming your media can help you keep your media organized. After all, most of us have several of media, right? Giving them names helps us keep them straight! Click on “Erase” and once the formatting process is complete, your screen should look like the screenshot below:
Please note that the erase function sometimes fails. If it does, simply repeat the steps by giving the drive a name, selecting the correct format and scheme and clicking on “Erase.” Next, you want to find your media on your Mac’s Desktop and do secondary-click it (or hold down [CONTROL] and click on the media icon) and choose “Encrypt [your media’s name here].”
Next, the Mac will prompt you to enter an encryption password before it begins the process of encrypting your media. Please remember to use a password that is not only hard for someone to figure out but one that you can easily remember. Please also note that if you cannot remember the password you used when formatting and encrypting the media, then you will not be able to access the data contained on that media ever again! You will also be given the opportunity to give yourself a “hint” on what the password is. I’d recommend writing a hint that you can figure out but would be meaningless to someone who doesn’t know you.
In a minute or two, you’ll have an encrypted flash drive or SD card ready for you to use! Remember to always drag your media off your Mac’s Desktop to your Trash to eject it properly. This step helps to prevent data loss that can result by simply pulling the media out of your Mac.
When encrypted media is plugged into your Mac, you will be prompted to enter the password you selected in order to access the data on that media. If you cannot remember your password, you can click on “Show Hint” and any hint you may have established while setting up the encrypted media will be displayed to assist you in remembering what the password is. Personally, I’d recommend that you not have the password remembered in the keychain (call/email/text me as to why!).
While Apple’s Disk Utility program is easy to use, there are a few drawbacks to using it to create encrypted media:
- The encrypted media can only be accessed with a Mac running Mac OS X “Lion” or later. Provided you know the password, you will be able to access the media and the data on it with any Mac running Mac OS X “Lion” (10.7), “Mountain Lion” (10.8) and “Mavericks” (10.9), “Yosemite” (10.10), “El Capitán” (10.11), and “Sierra” (10.12).
- The media is not compatible with Windows or any other operating system (i.e. Windows or other operating systems will not be able to access the data contained on the media). Most flash media come pre-formatted for use with PCs running Windows but your Mac can also access them. This process will make your media Mac only. It’s not a big deal unless you live or work in a mixed computing environment containing Macs and PCs.
- As mentioned above, you’ll need the password you selected in Disk Utility to mount and use the media on your Mac. Without it, the data on the media cannot be accessed.
These drawbacks, on the whole, though, are minor when protecting your data on media that is easily misplaced, lost, or stolen, don’t you think? Give it a try and you’ll see that encrypting media on your Mac is easy to do. If it’s easy and safe, why wouldn’t you use encryption to protect your data?
As always, Tech Me Back stands at the ready to help you with any questions you may have!
Locking your precious files, documents, photos, and other data through encryption is one of the safest ways to protect your personal information where only authorized users can access it. For the same task, Encryption software for Mac users are so reliable and trustworthy that they can save their personal details like bank information, transaction, passwords, etc. without worrying about its breach at all. How? Simply, locking it all with a Master Key.
Why Do I Need Encryption Software?
Have you ever heard about identity theft? Identity theft has become common by hackers around the world to peek-in details like Credit Card number, SSN, Passport number, etc. so as to gain personal or monetary gains.
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In the same way, your files, documents, apps, websites, etc. can be noted by onlookers for their personal profits and need a reliable safety lock. And here, encryption software for Mac works thereby locking them all securely and placing a password before. Now no unknown user can open up any file in office or home and your data will remain intact the way it is.
Let’s just go through some of the best Mac security software for this year!
Best Encryption Software For Mac 2020
1. Cisdem AppCrypt: For Website & Apps Encryption
Cisdem Appcrypt is quite a distinct encryption tool that locks up various apps and websites, primarily. You can also secure your photos, Contacts, Quicken, iTunes, Mail, etc. on your Mac very easily.
Moreover, add those websites that need a blockage in your Mac by placing them on the blacklist. This might be one of the best ways to keep your kids away from accessing porn websites. Every time anyone opens it, a password will be asked which is known only to you.
Other than that, you can also view the number of failed attempts some other user has made to access the blocked content.
Though Cisdem does not lock individual files but definitely the software that opens all those files.
2. VeraCrypt: For File Encryption
Provide your data high-grade protection using VeraCrypt which is considered as potent encryption software for Mac users. Very easy to use and backed up by on-the-fly-encryption or OTEF, it can also encrypt your folder in a customized manner. Yes, you can encrypt a portion of the file or the whole of it, as required.
Interestingly, Veracrypt uses advanced security algorithms that immunes upcoming brute-force attacks in your Mac. You can also add details about your data including volume, size, location, etc. for better customization. This all will let you escape from any data leak or chances of theft, ultimately!
3. Concealer
Another Mac security software that uses AES-256 data encryption standard is Concealer! Now you can protect your credit card information, website passwords, software license codes, files, photos and much more by locking it all behind a master key. Apart from hiding data, you can also set up Note Cards as your journal within it.
It also auto-locks your files if your Mac has not been left open for a while. Your files will be organized within the Encryption Software at one end whereas you can assign separate passwords for your files individually, at another.
4. CloudMounter: For Online Data Encryption
Let’s call it one more solid encryption software for Mac, CloudMounter can organize cloud servers and keep them protected with secure passwords. These servers include Dropbox, Google Drive, FTP, FTPS, Amazon S3, etc.
Once the software is in your Mac, choose the file, select ‘Encrypt’ and type a password to verify it. Yes, it’s done! And guess what, this method is also freeing up space on your Mac while adding storage for the future.
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5. FileVault: For Mac Disk Encryption
For all the Mac OS x 10.7 and above users, File Vault can act as powerful encryption software where encryption, as well as decryption, are on-the-fly. The software also allows you to prepare a master password for the case when the present one is lost or forgotten.
Its updated version called FileVault 2 protects your hard disk using the standard XTS-AES 128-block cipher that performs quite better than many other algorithms.
You can approach this method by selecting System Preferences > Security & Privacy > File Vault > click on the Lock icon. If there are more than one user accounts in your Mac, each of them has to enter separate passwords for file protection.
Conclusion
All the encryption software for Mac here is quite amazing so as to keep your sensitive information hidden. But if you ask us, in-built FileVault and Concealer are great options to be considered.
Though each of them has its own qualities, choose the one that suits your genre aptly. You can also check the best encryption software for Windows here.
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