# an easy way to password protect folders?



## eonxl (Aug 20, 2006)

hi.  i'm looking for an easy way to password protect certain folders on my harddrive. ocassionally i let others use my computer to check email, etc... (the woes of being the only one with a computer and internet access).  and there are a few things on my harddrive that i would like to keep private.

i just want to put a simple password protect on some of my personal folders.  all i want is for a password prompt to pop up when trying to open certain folders.  i have looked around and there are some fairly extensive encrypting programs and such.  but i'm not looking for something so complex.  it takes time to encrypt and de-encrypt data constantly.  i just want to prevent anyone from opening a folder without a password.

can anyone point me to this kind of utility?  or is there a way to do it within mac os x?  i have 10.3.9.

thanks for your help!
--e


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## bobw (Aug 20, 2006)

CloakIt allows you to cloak a folders and its contents.This way you can be sure that people don't find private and sensitive data on your mac,


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## Ifrit (Aug 20, 2006)

> hi. i'm looking for an easy way to password protect certain folders on my harddrive. ocassionally i let others use my computer to check email, etc... (the woes of being the only one with a computer and internet access). and there are a few things on my harddrive that i would like to keep private.
> 
> i just want to put a simple password protect on some of my personal folders. all i want is for a password prompt to pop up when trying to open certain folders. i have looked around and there are some fairly extensive encrypting programs and such. but i'm not looking for something so complex. it takes time to encrypt and de-encrypt data constantly. i just want to prevent anyone from opening a folder without a password.
> 
> can anyone point me to this kind of utility? or is there a way to do it within mac os x? i have 10.3.9.



I just want to know why most people don't use the features which are already there. OSX is a multi user system. If others have access to your computer then create one or multiple restricted accounts for them and password protect your own user account. Clean and simple solution. Other users aren't allowed to access your home directory from their account --> and your files. You don't even  have to log out in order to switch to another account (fast user switching).


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## fryke (Aug 20, 2006)

Or: Password protected disk image files. Works beautifully.


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## scruffy (Aug 20, 2006)

The easiest way would be simply to make a "guest" account.

Note that the default folder permissions may still let others see the contents of one another's folders.  You'll also have to change this - select the folder to protect in the Finder, choose "Get Info", and edit the permissions down at the bottom of the window that opens (click the disclosure triangle by "Details", and make sure that "Others" are granted no access to the folder).


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## eonxl (Aug 20, 2006)

THANK YOU.  these are great suggestions.  i have never explored the different "user accounts" option in Mac OSX.  that's why i never considered it.  but i will check it out.

thanks!

--e


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## eonxl (Aug 20, 2006)

fryke - what do you mean by password protecting image files?  i don't understand...


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## Ifrit (Aug 20, 2006)

> fryke - what do you mean by password protecting image files? i don't understand...



Imagine a image as a "virtual harddrive". It can be mounted (appears as icon) on the desktop and you can put other files and folders in it. 

This "virtual harddrive" is actually a file with a .dmg or similar extension. You can copy, delete and move it, like a regular file. Double click it and you can access its contents or move files and folders in it.

As far as I know you can create images with the disk utility. While creating these images you have the option to encrypt them. The content can't be accessed without providing a password. Even if you use external tools like a hexeditor or something along these lines you can't extract data out of the image because its garbeled after a specific algorithm. If you provide the password this alorithm can be revered and the contents of the image can be accessed. But you don't have to worry about this mechanism its happening in the background. You just double click the image file > it asks for a password > you enter it > window showing the files you stored within the image pops up.

In order to create a image file start the disk (helper) utility. Its located in your Applications/Utility folder. Click on the second menu entry (I don't know how to translate it from German to English) Click "New" > "Empty Image". In the next dialog box choose a name for the image and select the AES-128Bit Encryption. Choose a size for your image and click the "create" button. In the next box enter a password of your choosing.

edit: Creating password protected images is something I didn't consider, fryke. You can always learn something new while visiting MacOSX.com, even after years of being a regular mac OSX user.

*Starts creating password protected images for certain backup files, in order to put them on CD-Rs*


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