# Can I password protect an external hard drive? Mac OS Question
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-password-protect-an-external-hard-drive-mac-os-question/399157
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [April 8, 2007, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-password-protect-an-external-hard-drive-mac-os-question/399157 "2007-04-08T03:17:56Z")
**Posts on this page:** 2
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2007, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-password-protect-an-external-hard-drive-mac-os-question/399157/1 "2007-04-08T03:17:56Z")
I use a 40 gig Smartdisk FireLite firewire drive for backup. I take it with me when I travel, it is both a backup for the laptop and a way to keep documents nearby without having to store them on both home and laptop machines.
Some of these documents are… sensitive. Proprietary information and drawings, private pricing, etc.
I used Mac Help and couldn’t find out a way to password the entire external Hard Drive. Going to System Preferences- Security only addressed the Home hard drive and Home Icon.
Is there a way? I cannot believe I have to password protect every single document I wish to keep private, one at a time.
My thanks in advance,
Cartooniverse
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### Author:  [@Absolute](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Absolute)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2007, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-password-protect-an-external-hard-drive-mac-os-question/399157/2 "2007-04-08T04:50:35Z")
Open up Disk Utility and create an encrypted drive image.
[http://www.edb.utexas.edu/help/tutorials/security/osx\_encrypted\_image.htm](http://www.edb.utexas.edu/help/tutorials/security/osx_encrypted_image.htm)
Also - note that ‘password protection’ in most programs is trivial to defeat. If you want any real security, encryption is necessary.