FileVault
FileVault isn’t a bad idea, but it scares me (and everyone else at TidBITS) silly; I can’t imagine entrusting all my data to that single file, much less screwing up my backup strategy to accommodate it.
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In fact, backing up with FileVault is very easy. Retrospect sees your home directory as a volume that's only available when you're logged in. Just set up your backup script to back up your home volume and off you go. When you're logged it, your files will be backed up. (Presumably to someplace secure, since they're not encrypted at that point.) A backup that's attempted when you're not logged in won't succeed, because your home volume won't be available.
It works surprisingly well.
I've seen mention somewhere in the last week that Pixar is moving to Mac/Panther in a big way, and one thing that interests them (apart from being run by Steve Jobs) is the ability to use File Vault to protect sensitive company technology or information on computers, especially laptops.
If this is in fact the case, it would be a big incentive for Apple to make sure FileVault is safe, secure, and fast.
