#Mac os extended journaled encrypted 16gb password#
Write the password down on a sticky note and shove it in your underpants if you need to. Of course, here comes the Big Bad Scary Caveat™- don’t forget this password, or you’ll lose access to the data on the drive. Whatever method you choose, the next step will be creating the drive’s password and coming up with a hint for it. …or you can right-click on the drive’s icon in Finder’s sidebar and encrypt it from there. If you don’t see that icon, you can either go to Finder> Preferences> General and turn on showing external disks on your Desktop… So to get started, right- or Control-click on the drive’s icon on your Desktop and pick “Encrypt. However, even though this first method theoretically shouldn’t erase any data on the drive, be sure you have a backup before you begin just in case things go all nutty on you. If you’re running Mountain Lion or Mavericks, this process is really, really easy. So let’s discuss how you can keep things secure under various recent versions of the Mac’s operating system. After all, it’s a bummer to lose a piece of equipment or have it stolen, but what’d take that from “bummer” to “nightmare” is knowing that someone may have access to, say, your private financial information. Do you use an external drive or a flash drive to store some of your data? Then you might consider encrypting it.