Encrypted Disk Image

From BNL Physics Computing

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Overview

It is possible to create a disk image on the hard drive of a Mac or on external drives, including USB flash drives. The method adds container based encryption to the Mac using the same encryption as used with FileVault. For more information, see About Encrypted Disk Images on the Apple support site.

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Pros and Cons

Pros:

  • Built into the operating system.
  • Container based.
  • Files written to a mounted image are transparently encrypted and files read are transparently decrypted.
  • If not mounted, the container can be backed-up as a regular file.

Cons:

  • The password on the image file cannot be changed.
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Creating an Encrypted Disk Image

To create an encrypted disk image see the instructions on the Apple support site. Essentially, you use the Disk Utility to create an image file and turn on encryption in a pull down menu.

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