Password Protection?

Is there any way to password protect the files and folders in OS X 10? I don't want the file name to be changed. Is there also a way to hide files and folders? Thanks.

 

You can use a program like hide folders to hide them, I don't know if theres a way to put a password on them.

 

Only way is to create a disk image with Disk Utility, and password protect it.
Then put the files in there, and you need to type int he password inorder to access them.

 

I'll look into that program. Thanks.

 

What exactly is Disk Utility? Do I have to download it?

 

Disk Utility is a program that comes built in with OS X Leopard. You can find it in the Applications > Utilities folder, or just start typing "Disk" into Spotlight and it should be the first hit to appear.

Once you have Disk Utility open, to create an encrypted disk image, click on File > New > Blank Disc Image... From the new Window that opens, you can select your options as to what you would like the disk image to be named, the size, and encryption type. I suggest leaving all other options as default if you are unsure what they do.

To use the newly created disk image, just double click it to mount the image, type in a password (if necessary), then drag in or out files into the new window that opens.


Also, to hide certain files or folders in OS X Leopard from simple viewing in the Finder, just add a "." in front of the file name or folder name.

For example, if I had a text file that was in my Documents folder that I did not want the average person to see, instead of calling it "plantotakeovertheworld.txt" you can name it ".plantotakeovertheworld.txt" Same goes for folders as well. This will cause the file not to be seen in Finder using default system settings.

In Unix the "." before a file or folder tells the operating system that this file or folder is hidden.

In order to view the hidden files, you can simply open up Terminal (also found in the Applications > Utilities folder) and "cd" into the directory whos hidden files you wish to see and type in "ls -la" which will list all files (including hidden ones) in the current directory.

There are other ways of viewing hidden files in OS X Leopard (just Google "show hidden files in OS X") but I find the Terminal to be the quickest and easiest.

Hope this helps!

 

I tried putting a "." in front of the Folder name but it gave me this message: "You cannot use a name that begins with a dot ".", because these names are reserved for the system. Please choose another name."

 

Hm, it seems that you are correct. The OS does not like you doing that, however, if you open up Terminal and "cd" into the directory you want the hidden folder to be, you can create it straight from the Terminal by using the "mkdir" command. For example, if I "cd" to my Desktop I can create a folder called ".Test" by entering in the command "mkdir .Test"

This folder does not appear on the Desktop, but will appear if you use the "ls -la" command while you are in the Desktop directory. Sorry for the confusion!

 

Ah. This is all so much more confusing than it is on my PC where all I have to do is right-click and mark it hidden. Thanks for your help. I'll try to work on that.

 

Heh, yeah doing things on a Mac always seem a little different than on a PC, but there is always a way to get them done.

Try to get used to using the Terminal as it is quite a powerful tool for use with any Unix based OS. It will also make things a lot easier if you ever find yourself using Linux as well.

Glad I could help!

 

a link that talks quite a bit in depth about this -
http://osxdaily.com/2007/03/07/ask-os-x-daily-how-can-i-password-protect-a-file/
i suggest you don't go the disk image encryption method... go to the "get info" pane for the file and under permissions unclick access to everyone but the owner (which would be you) .. in which case anyone logging into your system under another user name will have no access to your file... ofcourse.. it's not encryption .. and it might be totally irrelevant and useless for certain circumstances ... in which case.. take your pick from the options given in the link.. .. .hope it solves your issue

 

this is a fairly old thread, but low and behold, it looks like it is possible now, looks pretty nice too:

http://www.taoeffect.com/espionage/