File Vault

Some of them I guess, but it's still too early to use it I'd say. Wait till 10.3.5 or something I'd say, something as precise and File Vault needs to have almost all bugs removed before you can safely use it.
 
Apple solved the initial problems with FileVault in 10.3.1. You'll still get the ugly messages about saving some space. You can ignore them and from time to time listen to them.

Apparently, FileVault thinks it should save space even if your home-folder is only a few K smaller than when the disk image was last changed, which is quite sad, because while FileVault automatically enlarges the image, it seems it doesn't automatically shrink it.

I think Apple shouldn't _ask_ whether it should do this. This should all be hidden from the user...
 
I wouldn't turn FileVault on if you really have no good use for it. No one cares about your Word documents or any information any casual home user would have on their computer. It's cool and it's nifty to be able to say that your computer is locked down tight, it's really overkill for any home user. Hell, even grandma who keeps her ultra-secret family recipies on her drive doesn't need FileVault.

For a corporate environment where employees carry sensitive business information around with them on their laptops that could potentially cause harm to the business if those documents got into the wrong hands, FileVault is a great thing.

And it works just fine now. I've tried it just to try it, and if you've got a pretty plain installation of OS X on your drive (meaning you haven't moved your home folder or mucked around with deafult installation directories) it works just fine.
 
The last set of updates had an update for File Vault - I never shut my PowerBook off (rarely) so I've not been able to test it yet.

People who also run their own businesses need FileVault. :p
 
Just make sure to keep the data in your home folder unencrypted and safe on a firewire drive at your house or office, I would never trust important information to any machine. Better safe then sorry.
 
I've been using it on my PowerBook since the 10.3.1 update without a single problem. FileVault has asked to reclaim space on numerous occasions without a hitch.

HTH
 
I enabled FileVault last night. Personally, I don't think i have a great need for it, but ah well. My main question is, will it cause my computer to slow down at all?
 
Hypernate said:
I enabled FileVault last night. Personally, I don't think i have a great need for it, but ah well. My main question is, will it cause my computer to slow down at all?
Click to expand...

Yes, roughly a 10-15% slowdown when accessing files to/from your Home folder, as encryption is done on the fly.

Brad
 
Where'd you have the 10-15% number from? All testers I've heard from are _not_ talking of any impact at all. Of course, if you're dealing with very large files, this could be different. You should save and open those files to and from outside of your home folder - unless you really need the security for them, too, but then you'd have to live with the impact, anyway.

If you're not sure whether you need FileVault or not: Don't touch it. What for, anyway?
 
fryke said:
Where'd you have the 10-15% number from? All testers I've heard from are _not_ talking of any impact at all. Of course, if you're dealing with very large files, this could be different. You should save and open those files to and from outside of your home folder - unless you really need the security for them, too, but then you'd have to live with the impact, anyway.

If you're not sure whether you need FileVault or not: Don't touch it. What for, anyway?
Click to expand...

Whoa, whoa, whoa. Testers or not - when you encrypt files in the scheme that FileVault uses, or use any related encrpytion scheme for that matter, there will usually (if not always) be a 10-15% performace hit when comparing accessability time for the same file in an encrypted and unencrypted environment. And yes, dealing with larger files is why I say 10-15%, not a specific percentage, as variability is a given.

I would also agree with Fryke -- unless youneed to use FileVault, don't.

Brad
 
telarium said:
Whoa, whoa, whoa. Testers or not - when you encrypt files in the scheme that FileVault uses, or use any related encrpytion scheme for that matter, there will usually (if not always) be a 10-15% performace hit
Click to expand...

As a counter opinion I have noticed a 0 % performance hit on my Rev A PowerBook 17". My home folder is over 5 GB in size. Food for thought.
 
I wouldn't enable Filevault on my iMac (no need, as it's a static computer, and the only thing in my user folder is music), but if I were a road warrior I would probably consider it. Just because someone's after your hardware instead of your data doesn't mean you should give him both if he steals your Book.

Nate, you'd be okay with enabling FV on your iBook, but it would be completely pointless on your iMac unless you share it with nosy siblings.
 
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