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dukester · May 11, 2004, 02:53 PM

I just got my wickedly awesome new Powerbook 15" 1.5. This is my first Powerbook and I'm thinking of using FileVault to secure my data. Does anyone use it? I know there were data loss problems associated with it when Panther was first released but I haven't heard anything else on it. Any suggestions?

ewdafa · May 11, 2004, 02:57 PM

I also got my spanking new 15" 1.5ghz jobbie yesterday. Marvelous machine.

Since it's my first Mac I've been playing with tons of features and I've had FileVault on for for most of it's lifetime. Performance seems pretty decent, although when I rebooted earlier today it prompted me to 'Compact' the FileVault. Now I'm not sure if I'm gonna keep it anymore, cause having it ask me to compact stuff whenever I reboot might be slightly annoying.

bcaslis · May 11, 2004, 03:04 PM

I've been using it since 10.3.1. Under 10.3 it had some severe problems with program preferences but those were fixed in 10.3.1. It works pretty seamlessly with a few exceptions:

1.) Under normal usage the speed difference isn't noticable but if you copy gigs of data to your home it will run at about 1/2 the speed without file vault.
2.) Some programs "see" your home as a new disk, others don't. Some of those programs will habitually keep putting a "Temporary Items" folder in your home. Not terrible but slightly annoying. Deamweaver also insists on dumping a file named "Application Support" in your home.
3.) When you delete things space isn't automatically reclaimed, but when you logout you get a dialog asking if you want to reclaim unused disk space. Depending on how much it can take awhile, but you have the option to logout without reclaiming if you need to logout in a hurry.

Overall I think it's OK. It's great if you need to send a machine in for repair you don't need to worry about someone extracting your data or the same in other situations. I've used it on a 1.25GHz 15" and a 1.5GHz 17".

dukester · May 11, 2004, 06:00 PM

Thanks for the good response. I think I'll give it a try. I like the peace of mind knowing that should my laptop fall into enemy hands, i'm protected.