If you have a Mac then you must have heard about feature named FileVault, however many users do not know what it is and how to use it? In this article, we will educate you what is FileVault and How to Enable it on your Mac.

What is FileVault?

If a user forgot their account password and can't log in to their Mac, you can use the private recovery key to unlock their startup disk and access its FileVault-encrypted data. On the client Mac, start up from macOS Recovery by holding Command-R during startup. Sep 27, 2017 First the top button should say “Turn On FileVault” and at the bottom, it should say “FileVault is turned off for the disk “Macintosh HD”” (or whatever your disk is called). Conclusion As I said, unless you find yourself reinstalling the system, wiping the system in preparation for a sale, or switching off FileVault due to. Dec 16, 2014 Apple’s FileVault disk encryption option in OS X is a security feature that is highly recommended, especially for portable systems that can be easily stolen. The feature is easy to set up in the Security system preferences, after which the system should take up to a few hours to encrypt the drive, depending on the size and type of drive being used.

Mac OS X provides a built-in disk encryption feature called FileVault. It uses XTS- AES-128 bit encryption with a 256-bit key to protect all your files located on the drive.

Once you enable FileVault feature on Mac, it starts encrypting your files and folders located on the drive which helps to prevent unauthorized access to the Mac. Since all the files and folders are encrypted it requires a password on boot.

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It offers on-the-fly encryption for every new and modified file on your Mac. It does not take time but there is a slight hit involved while using the it on your Mac. But Mac’s with SSD installed will not notice performance difference, whereas some of older Mac versions with slower hardware, may notice some performance change.

How to enable FileVault Encryption on Mac:

You can follow the steps below to enable FileVault Encryption on your Mac.

• Click the Apple menu button on the top left of your screen.
• Click System Preferences.
  
• From the System Preferences window, click on Security & Privacy option.
  
• Here, click on the little lock icon placed on the lower left corner of the window.
  
• When prompted, enter your Admin Username and Password.
• On Security & Privacy window, click on the FileVault tab and then click on Turn ON FileVault.
  
• New window will open to open your encrypted disk, here you will get two options. You can select any one of them to unlock the Encrypted Disk and click on Continue.
• If you have selected, Create a Recovery Key option, please note down the recovery key that shows on the next screen and store it in a safe place.
  

The key is a 24-character alphanumeric password to Decrypt the drive.

How To Cancel Filevault During Mid Download Macos

If you have multiple User Accounts on Mac, you must Enable FileVault access individually for each User Account via clicking on Enable User option. Once you have Enabled Users, click on the Continue button.

• Now, click on the Restart button to start encryption process of files.
  

The process takes time as it depends on the amount of data you have.

Conclusion:

As mentioned in the article, FileVault protects all your files and data stored on your Mac, which prevents it from unauthorized access. So, if you are a person who is concerned about privacy and security of your data and files, or worried if your mac gets stolen and someone gaining unauthorized access, you must use FileVault.

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FileVault ensures that all your data and personal information is protected, even if you happen to misplace or lose your Mac or it gets stolen.

Mac computers that have the Apple T2 Security Chip integrate security into both software and hardware to provide encrypted-storage capabilities. Data on the built-in, solid-state drive (SSD) is encrypted using a hardware-accelerated AES engine built into the T2 chip. This encryption is performed with 256-bit keys tied to a unique identifier within the T2 chip.

The advanced encryption technology integrated into the T2 chip provides line-speed encryption, but it also means that if the portion of the T2 chip containing your encryption keys becomes damaged, you might need to restore the content of your drive from a backup. This content includes system files, apps, accounts, preferences, music, photos, movies, and documents.

Always back up your content to a secure external drive or other secure backup location so that you can restore it, if necessary. You should also turn on FileVault for additional security, because without FileVault enabled, your encrypted SSDs automatically mount and decrypt when connected to your Mac.

Make a backup

Set up Time Machine or another backup method to regularly back up your Mac to a secure external source.

Files that you store in iCloud Drive, as well as photos and videos that you store in iCloud Photo Library, are automatically uploaded to iCloud. When you use iCloud Photo Library, full-resolution photos and videos are stored on your Mac by default and included in a Time Machine backup. If you choose to optimize iCloud Photo Library on your Mac, the full-resolution originals are not included in a Time Machine backup.

How To Cancel Filevault During Mid Download Mac Os

Turn on FileVault

Though the SSD in computers that have the Apple T2 Security Chip is encrypted, you should turn on FileVault so that your Mac requires a password to decrypt your data.

How To Cancel Filevault During Mid Download Mac Os

To turn on FileVault, follow these steps:

How To Cancel Filevault During Mid Download Mac Mojave

1. Choose Apple menu () > System Preferences, then click Security & Privacy.
2. Click the FileVault tab.
3. Click , then enter an administrator name and password.
4. Click Turn On FileVault.