Dangers of booting from external drive?

videoflyer

videoflyer

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Specifically, I'm considering a freelance design gig for which the client supplies an external firewire drive with a) a bootable system, b) a more recent version of the Adobe Suite than I own (necessary - his files are all in the more recent version), c) all of the project files, and d) Suitcase and all of the tons of different fonts required. The gig is uninspiring - a coupon catalog - but each of his many clients gets to supply either their own print-ready PDF or copy/photos/fonts for him/me to layout...the result being there's a ton of fonts.

So in other words, it's a preconfigured system to simplify different people working on the same files. Not at the same time, obviously, but the idea being that a new person can simply boot up from this drive and go right to work. I've scanned the drive with VirusBarrier and found nothing wrong with it. And I don't see any suspicious programs in the Applications folder. And I don't have any reason to suspect that that this guy would do anything underhanded...but I'm understandably (I think) nervous.

Is there a way to protect my internal drive/files when I boot from an external drive? It would give me peace of mind if there were steps I could take that would allow me to boot from his drive without worrying about the possibility that there MIGHT be a program or script or something that might muck about with my computer.

How can I protect myself?
 
Make sure you are password protected--that is, you have to be logged into your account in order to "see" and use your data.

You can experiment with it this way: create a new user . . . log in with it . . . see if you can "get" to what you are worried about.

Then try that with an external drive. I have not had a problem.

However, I also have a Firmware password. This prevents someone from booting from another disk without a password--to try to steal/wipe your drive. You set that with your Installation disk.

--J.D.
 
Thanks - very reassuring.

I've actually already got several accounts set up - each with it's own password. There's the admin account, of course, and I never log into that one unless absolutely necessary. There's my day-to-day account - the one I log into and use for getting work done - and I deal with the "Authorize" dialogue box whenever I need to do anything that needs admin approval. And then there's one for my kids with the parental controls set up.

If that's what you're referring to when you say I should be sure I'm password-protected, then perhaps I'm nearly good to go already.

When it comes to a Firmware password, though, I've never used that feature. Will it be obvious when I insert my system disc how to go about setting that up?
 
The use of an Ex-HD should work the same way--the guy has an account which is basically a "guest" or another "user" account on your Mac he connects to. You have to make the "stuff" you want him to use available as you would the other accounts on your Mac.

I write should because I have never actually done that to that extent. My "clones" are clones of my account. I have a "dummy" account to use should my MB get stolen ala Undercover--that account cannot "see" my data. I have never tried to log on from my Ex-HD in my cloned "dummy" account, but I doubt it would be much different.

As for Firmware: I cannot "screen capture" it, but basically restart on your Installation or Snow Leopard disk. If you look under I believe "tools" you will see "Set Firmware Password." It is very easy. What it will prevent is someone from just hooking up to your computer and booting it.

--J.D.
 
The firmware password is unlikely to help in this case. You have to provide the password before you can boot to any drive other than the internal hard drive. Then, with the system booted, anyone would have access to the files on your internal drive (unless the files are protected in some other way, like an encrypted partition or folder)
Might be a good occasion to use FileVault...
 
The Firmware password will "help" in preventing anyone from booting the Mac without the owner being present. Do not know the situation: he may want the ability for someone to use his computer without his presence. In that case, he could just give the guy a guest account and then let him hook up an Ex-HD to do what he has to do.

Not something I would want anyone to be able to do of course, but I value my mineral porn.
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--J.D.
 
The situation - as presented in the first post, the OP was asking how to assure that the files on the internal hard drive remain secure while booted to an external hard drive.
If you must boot from an external drive, then a firmware password is not relevant.
And, according to the OP, he would be using that pre-configured hard drive on his own Mac, and wants to know how to prevent malware/other bad stuff from migrating to the internal hard drive.
Seems an unlikely scenario to me (on a Mac!)... unless videoflyer will be modifying files on his own hard drive while booted to that external one.
 
You would have noted it was presented as additional information from my post.

As for the rest, I think his question has been answered.

--J.D.
 
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