Question
MacOS does offer automatic disc encryption for at least 2 "types" of hard drives in the system:
- Internal APFS Hard Drive with FileVault
- External Time Machine Hard Drive (If set up in Time Machine Preferences)
Result of diskutil list for external Time Machine Drive via diskutil list
:
/dev/disk3 (external, virtual):
#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
0: Apple_HFS DISK +499.4 GB disk3
Logical Volume on disk2s2
[redacted]
Unlocked Encrypted
As we can see, system manages to encrypt and decrypt Time Machine disk (in this case) automatically
Problems
- Is there any way in MacOS for automatic external disc encryption and decryption? When disc is plugged, system does decrypt its content and allow normal operations, leaving disc encrypted when disconnected from the system
- Would external ssd's with hardware encryption benefit from it using MacOS built-in FileVault features, or does it only apply for disk manufacturer proprietary software?