Mac w Passport re: Hardware encryption & Time Machine

WD External Drives External Drives for Mac
1

I’m using my Passport 500GB as a Time Machine dirve on Mac OSX Lion 10.7.3: Does it make sense to use the SmartWare to set a password and turn on hardware encryption?

I like the idea that if the drive is lost, my data can’t be read. But it seems that Time Machine can’t access the drive with encryption turned on. Is there another way to do this?

Also, is there any point to having the WD QuickView installed on my Mac?

Finally, can I remove the VCD partition (to save space) if this will be used just for TM? Or can it be updated with the more recent Smart Ware?

Running firmware v2.018 / SmartWare 1.3.3.8

Thank you,

  • Eric
2

Hi, that’s right, if you use password protection you need to unlock the hard drive before the Mac can recognize it, the WD quickview is optional and the VCD cannot be removed, you can only hide it.

3

you can also encrypt the drive with Time Machine.

Please read and see if you like this way better

Lion Encryption