Making an Encrypted Space on a Thumb Drive.
22 - To close, drag the image to the Trash. (The trash can becomes an eject key.) Or from a finder window, click on the eject key arrow beside the drive’s name.
Do you carry a back up of some of your files with you. Looking for a way to keep them secure so no one can access them if you lost it, or someone just picked it up, curious as to what you store on it? Want to prevent others from viewing some of your files? You can do this by creating an encrypted space for storing private files.
3 - Double-click on “Disk Utility”, to open it.
1 - In the Finder select “Go” from the menu bar.
2 - Click once on ”Utilities” to open it.
4 - Click on File to show the drop-down menu, click on New, then select Blank Disk Image.
5 - Start by giving the Disk Image a name. I’m going to call mine “Personal Files.”
A new window opens.
6 - Select your thumb drive, or other external disk. You could even just place it in your Documents folder.
8 - Select a size: I left mine at the suggested 100 MB. You can even make a custom size. (Don’t worry, even if you make it larger than needed, it won’t take up anymore space than the actual content you put inside.)
9 - Choose 128 or 256 bit encryption.
10 - Choose Sparse Disk Image.
11 - Then click Create.
12 - Enter in a good password, use a combination of letters and numbers, and make sure you can remember it. Do not use your computer’s password, an email password or any password someone will easily guess or get hold of. That defeats the purpose of security.
13 - Uncheck the box “Remember password in Keychain” if you don’t want others with your computer’s password to obtain access.
14 - Click OK.
7 - You can change this name as well. I’m calling it “My Files”.
15 - On your keyboard press the Command and Q keys to quit Disk Utility.
To make one right on a Thumb Drive, first insert a Drive into an available USB port. An icon will appear on the desktop.
Now lets move some files into it. To do this, we have to locate the Sparse Disk Image you created.
16 - Double click on the Thumb Drive to open it. (Or open a Finder Window to locate the Image.)
17 - You should see an image called xx.sparseimage. Where xx stands for the name you gave yours in step #5. I called mine Personal Files. Think of this image as a package you received in the mail. First you unwrap it, then you open the box inside. Double click on the image.
20 - Another Drive image will now appear on your desktop. This one will have the name you used in step #7. You can now drag and drop files into it. Note that the files will be copied to it.
Double click on the image to see the contents at anytime, or drag files in to it.
A Sparse Disk Image works very similar to the way some applications are downloaded from the internet. (See Download & Install an Application.)
18 - A window will open asking for the password. This will be the password you created in step #12.
19 - Click OK.
21 - Of course, right now my sample is empty. Notice the number of items and space still available.
This is a great way to keep your personal files private, i.e. important papers etc. whether on your computer or on an external drive. Remember, the next time you open the image, you will be asked for the password, so don’t loose it. Else you will not be able to retrieve the records.