FileVault

FileVault is a disk encryption program in Mac OS X 10.3 Panther (2003) and later. It performs on-the-fly encryption with volumes on Mac computers. FileVault was introduced with Mac OS X 10.3 Panther, and could only be applied to a user's home directory, not the startup volume. The operating system uses an encrypted (a large single file) to present a volume for the home directory. Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard and Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard use more modern which spread the data over 8 MB files (called bands) within a bundle. Apple refers to this original iteration of FileVault as "legacy FileVault". OS X 10.7 Lion and newer versions offer FileVault 2, which is a significant redesign. This encrypts the entire OS X startup volume and typically includes the home directory, abandoning the disk image approach. For this approach to disk encryption, authorised users' information is loaded from a separate non-encrypted boot volume (partition/slice type Apple_Boot). The original version of FileVault was added in Mac OS X Panther to encrypt a user's home directory. When FileVault is enabled the system invites the user to create a master password for the computer. If a user password is forgotten, the master password or recovery key may be used to decrypt the files instead. FileVault recovery key is different from a Mac recovery key, which is a 28-character code used to reset your password or regain access to your Apple ID. Migration of FileVault home directories is subject to two limitations: there must be no prior migration to the target computer the target must have no existing user accounts. If Migration Assistant has already been used or if there are user accounts on the target: before migration, FileVault must be disabled at the source. If transferring FileVault data from a previous Mac that uses 10.4 using the built-in utility to move data to a new machine, the data continues to be stored in the old sparse image format, and the user must turn FileVault off and then on again to re-encrypt in the new sparse bundle format.