Many of us have the need to password protect important files on our Macs containing confidential information such as bank account numbers or social security numbers. In this tutorial we will show you how to password protect a folder on your Mac by converting it to a disk image, which is an exact copy of your folder.
Password Protecting Folders
1. Open Disk Utility by launching it from your dock or by searching for it in Spotlight.
2. Once Disk Utility has completely opened, click on the File button located on the Apple toolbar. After you click this, a drop down menu will appear. Mouse over the “New”option, which is the second option from the top on the drop down menu. Click on “Disk Image From Folder”.
3. You will now be instructed to choose the folder you would like to turn into an image. Choose the folder that you would like to password protect.
4. Once you do this, a pop-up menu will appear. This pop-up will ask you where you would like to save your image, the image format you would like to use, and if you would like to encrypt the image.
For this tutorial, we will be configuring the encryption settings. You can do this by clicking on the encryption settings button located on the bottom of the pop-up menu. You have the choice of 128-bit and 256-bit encryption, choose the one that fits you best.
5. You will now be greeted with a pop-up menu that will ask you for the password that you would like to use with this image. Type in the password that you would like to use. Your file will now be converted to a disk image. Keep in mind that this image is now password protected–so remember your password!
Thanks for reading today’s tutorial, check back tomorrow for more Apple tips.
