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Test Machine Description (some sort of name like "Bob's G5"): Jon's MBP
Processor: 2.0 GHz Intel Core Duo
RAM: 2 GB
Hard Disk Size: 96 with 37 GB available

Encryption Technique: FileVault

  • if other:
  • Version (if applicable):

Operating System with version: 10.4.7

How long did it take to configure initially? 5 in minutes
How long did the actual encryption take? 120 in minutes
How large is your Home Dir (FileVault) or Folder (EFS)? 26 in GB

How easy was the initial setup? (1 being trivial, 5 being very hard) 2

Did you set a key/password recovery method? Yes

  • which one: Master Password

Does the machine have a password to wake from sleep or screen saver? Yes

Did you run a backup before enabling encryption? Yes

  • what type of backup do you use: SuperDupr to external hard disk

Other comments about the setup:
The setup was straight forward, though the 2 hour encryption time, followed by additonal time spent deleteing the old Home Directory was a bit unexpected.

During the encryption, the system was entirely unusable. During the deletion of the old home dir, using the option to cancel after an hour resulted in a long delay. All in all the process took me 4.5 hours. I think we should recommend people move large non-sensitive files out of the home directory (like movies or virtual machine images) before enabling FileVault. They can then be moved back in afterwards with more incremental delay.

Things to note
  1. Initial encryption took a long time: 4.5 hours
  2. FileVault protected Home Folder treated as a single file by backup software (SuperDuper!) - caused extra challenges backing up and decreases incremental backup performance
  3. Dreamweaver Sites stored in the Home Folder are not found after FileVault enabled
    • I think this is because Dreamweaver uses an explicit unix path, rather than standard Apple file locations.  Still going to show up as a problem for our clients
  4. Recommend moving large (non-sensitive) files outside of the Home Folder before initial encryption to improve both the initial setup and the future backups.
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