Apple devices have the reputation of being the safest on the market, and in fact they are. However, especially when transporting files with sensitive information, both on external storage devices and sent over the Internet, Apple’s security cannot intervene and we depend on the integrity of the storage device or service we use, except that we use iCloud Drive itself. That is why Sometimes we may need to encrypt files or media and protect them through an access key.
In today’s article we show you the most effective way to encrypt your files or disks. We will start with the possibility of encrypting your external media natively thanks to the native tools of your Mac, and then we will see one of the best encryption applications for Mac.
We begin as we have commented previously by seeing the possibilities that macOS offers us to encrypt media or files.
Encrypt external media on Mac
Given the inability to encrypt specific files or folders on macOS, The only thing we can do natively will be to encrypt an external medium. We can later use this medium to transport information without having to worry about the integrity of the information, since only by knowing the password that we establish will it be possible to access the information.
To encrypt an external medium, the first thing we will have to do is connect it to our computer. The next thing we have to take into account is the format of the disk. The formats supported for writing on Mac are only Apple’s own, that is, Mac OS Plus and APFS. As an exception we have an additional format that is compatible with Windows and Linux, exFat.
Related article:
What disk format to use for both Windows and Mac?
Once we have one of the disk formats compatible with the operating systems that we will need to reach as a destination, we will have to encrypt the disk. The macOS option that we will see will encrypt the disk or external media completely, not specific files or folders.
To get to the option in question we will only have to go through the Finder to where our disk or external media is located, and then Right click on it and select Encrypt disk.
The system It will ask us for a password and then proceed to encrypt the disk. This process may take several minutes to finish, depending mainly on the total disk space and the number of files found inside.
When the process finishes we will have our external media or disk ready. We can connect it to another Mac, and only knowing the password, which will be requested at the time of connection, the content will be accessible.
As an additional point, know that you can remember the password from external media thanks to Mac Keychainthis way if one of the Macs to which you connect this external media or disk is trusted, it will not ask you again for the established password, only on that device.
Encrypt files with Encrypto
One of the best applications you can find for this task is Encrypto. There are many the advantages of using this application, such as:
- Without advertising and totally free.
- Strong encryption with AES-256.
- Very simple and clean interface.
- Very fast installation and download.
Download and install Encrypto
The first thing we will have to do to be able to use Encrypto is download and install it. We leave you the link to access its official page below.
Encrypto official download page
It is notable to know that The application is compatible for both Mac and Windowsso you will not have to worry that the destination operating system, if you send these encrypted files, can reach years without incident.
Installing it will be simple, although it allows you to change the installation location and select if you want to create shortcuts, The simplified view of the installer will simply show you an install button. One of the simplest installers you will find.
Encrypt files with Encrypto
Its use is very simple. We will have two ways to interact with the application. One from the application itself and another from the contextual menus that it will create for us in the system. The latter is the most recommended because it is the most direct and fastest.
How to encrypt files
If we use the application interface we can either drag the files that we want to encrypt to the window directlyor select a specific file or folder.
If, on the other hand, we use the contextual menus, it will be enough to right click on the file or folder that we want to encrypt for later select “Encrypt with Encrypto”. Next, it will ask us for the password we want to use for encryption and a suggestion in case we forget it.
When we proceed to encrypt the files or folders We will see with a pleasant animation how the window is encrypted that we had from the application. At the end of the process It will ask us where to save the resulting encrypted file. Remember that if you have encrypted a folder it will be reduced to a single file, which will have the entire folder tree inside.
How to decrypt files
To carry out the opposite process, the application will have installed its own extensions on our system, this means that It will now be able to detect files that you have encrypted with the application. This way you will only have to double click on the encrypted file, then enter the password with which it was encrypted and we will see the decryption animation that we saw in the previous step.
Once the decryption process is finished, which can last from seconds to minutes, depending on the size of the files or folders, it will ask us where to save the resulting files. We will select the location and after a few seconds of transfer we will have our files decrypted and ready to view or use.
The weak point of this application is that If we want to edit files we cannot modify them as they are encrypted. In this way we will have to decrypt them, to be able to modify them and then have to re-encrypt them. It may be relevant to know this to avoid unnecessary waiting processes.
