Confidential information (journalists, lawyers, etc)īelow we will explain how to encrypt an external hard drive both on Windows and Mac.Consumer information that must be protected for compliance purposes.Personal documents and information (passport scans, bills, photos, etc).In this guide, we explain how to encrypt an external hard drive so your data remains private no matter what happens.īelow we have outlined the types of data that it is essential to encrypt on a USB peripheral such as a USB dongle or external hard drive: If this happens, thieves will have access to your sensitive information. An external hard drive is an excellent way to back up your data, but it also risks becoming lost or stolen.

Pick your password, then click Erase, and the drive is ready to go.If you have a portable or external hard drive that contains a lot of personal or valuable information, it is vital that you make its contents secure. Give the drive a name, choose an encrypted option under Format (the options are explained here) and choose GUID Partition Map under Scheme. If the encryption option doesn't appear, the drive needs to be wiped and reformatted to be compatible-open the Disk Utility tool in macOS, click View and Show All Devices, then select the relevant external drive and click Erase. You can encrypt external drives with a password from Finder: Just right-click on them and choose Encrypt. You'll also need to specify your preferred way of unlocking the system disk if you ever forget your password, either through iCloud or through a dedicated recovery key. There's a FileVault option there, together with some details about what it does. You can also turn FileVault on (or off) whenever you like by opening the Apple menu and choosing System Settings then Privacy & Security. You'll be asked to enable FileVault when you first set up macOS on a new machine, and it's something we'd recommend.

External storage encryption