How to Encrypt and Password Protect Drives on a Mac

With USB sticks and external hard drives becoming increasingly popular (and small), the chances of your data falling into wrong hands is also increasing.

Thankfully if you use a Mac there is a simple, free way to encrypt and password protect your data. Although OS X has all the features you need built in, I find the free application SecureFiles to be a valuable time saver by simplifying the process down to just a couple of clicks.

SecureFiles allows you to create a 128bit AES encrypted sparse image and will even rate your password's strength.

A sparse image is a special file type that needs to be mounted by the Operating System before the contents can be accessed. It is actually encrypted sparse image files that are used by OS X's FileVault to secure a user's home directory.

When you create an encrypted sparse image with SecureFiles you will be asked to set a maximum size. This can be any value you like (I personally encrypt my external 1TB Drive). However, a sparse image will only allocate the space as it is filled, therefore the file size will initially start at the minimum value (approximately 15MB).

Another advantage of a sparse image is that it is completely portable, meaning you can move it to external media without having to re-encrypt any of your data. This is great for when you upgrade your storage solution as it's as simple as copy and paste to migrate all your data.

To see SecureFiles in action check out the video below:

SecureFiles is available for free from http://freemacsoft.net/SecureFiles/.