I was looking for a way to password protect a folder on the Mac. I needed to be able to backup a large collection of files onto a USB hard drive and then send it securely through the mail for safe off-site storage. For some reason, this functionality is not integrated directly into Finder.
Finally I stumbled upon a way to do it with built-in OS X software. That is perfect because I wanted to avoid using random 3rd-party trialware for something that an operating system ought to be able to do for free.
How to Password Protect a Folder on the Mac:
- Open up the “Disk Utility” application
- File -> New -> Disk Image from Folder…
- choose a folder to protect
- choose “AES-128″ encryption and press Save
- Enter your desired new password twice (Do not forget it.)
This process creates an ordinary Macintosh disk image (.dmg) file. The disk image contains the entire contents of the folder, but cannot be opened unless the correct password is supplied. To open it, just double-click the .dmg file in Finder. A password dialog box will appear. Once you supply your correct password, Finder will automatically unencrypt your data and mount the image as a disk.
Can the network administrator get into the encrypted folder despite this?
hi there
thanks for this tip. I used it to password protect a folder with numerous Word files. However, this approach doesn’t allow me to alter and save the files in the folder as they are now read-only. Is there a way to password protect using disk utilily without making the files themselves read – only?
thanks
adam
To answer that last persons question while creating the disk image from folder, where you select the encryption type.. above that it says “disk type” which by default is set to “compressed”, simply go to that and select “read / write”
tah dah
This is great info thanks.
When I try to copy in more files I get a message that says there is not enough space to do so. Is there a way to increase the capacity of the disc image?
And it goes without saying that the original folder can be erased?
Well, since you just said it, it does not go without saying.
But seriously, something could go wrong with your disk image. For example, the password could be forgotten or the disk image file could be corrupted. Don’t delete the original files unless you fully understand the risks.