adding password to folders

dage007

could anyone tell me if there is a way to add a password to a folder in os 10.3 Im jsut surrious because im running a mac, that when it boots up i dont want anyone to have to log into. the problem is taht i do have the odd file that i would like to have password protected in a folder that anyone cant access accept for me



does anyone know if there is any software that can allow you to do this?



tahnks



dave

mcq

I'd guess add the folder into an encrypted disk image, and then access it as necessary (i.e. mount, modify files inside, then eject).



There's a KB article on this for Jaguar:

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107333



The process is similar for Panther, except you use Disk Utility to create the disk image.

aquatic

This is not acceptable. Folders should be able to be passworded. Sometimes it's impractical to protect things via entirely different users or dmgs. This is probably the only good thing in Windows, besides F11 Full Screen in IE, which every PC user hates for some reason!

kickaha

Quote:

Originally posted by Aquatic

This is not acceptable. Folders should be able to be passworded. Sometimes it's impractical to protect things via entirely different users or dmgs.

Um, what exactly is the difference between the password protected folder and the password protected dmg, other than the dmg shows up in the Finder sidebar?

dage007

Quote:

Originally posted by Kickaha

Um, what exactly is the difference between the password protected folder and the password protected dmg, other than the dmg shows up in the Finder sidebar?

can you expalin what the dmg is first of all please?



secondly i went to the disk utilities, and i was going to mount a new image, i didnt because i was unsure if it would deleate the drive or what it does actually. Let's say i have an external raid, can i just pick that drive and mount a new image on it and name it what i want?



also, when do i designate how big i want it, or does it jsut size itself as i dump file sin to it?



thanks

kickaha

Quote:

Originally posted by dage007

can you expalin what the dmg is first of all please?

Disk Image. It's a file that acts like a disk. You mount it, read from it, write to it, unmount it, just like a disk.

Quote:

secondly i went to the disk utilities, and i was going to mount a new image, i didnt because i was unsure if it would deleate the drive or what it does actually. Let's say i have an external raid, can i just pick that drive and mount a new image on it and name it what i want?

It just creates a .dmg file, very harmless.

Quote:

also, when do i designate how big i want it, or does it jsut size itself as i dump file sin to it?

Embarrassingly, I don't know the answer to this one - did they finally implement dynamic sizing of the .dmgs, or are they fixed sizes still?



BTW, you can also set up a compressed disk image, which can take up quite a bit less room, and only compresses/decompresses on mount/unmount. Kind of replaces StuffIt files nicely.

mcq

I don't see anything in Disk Utility that has an option for a dynamically sizing dmg... skimming through the hdiutil man page, I saw something about a stretch option when creating a disk image, but I'm not sure that I understand the explanation.

mcsjgs

form the hdiutil man page:



compact image

scans the bands of a SPARSE type disk image with an HFS

filesystem in it, removing those parts of the image file which

are no longer being used by the filesystem. Depending on the

layout of files in the filesystem, compact may or may not

shrink the image file. Common Options: -encryption,

-stdinpass, -srcimagekey, -shadow with friends, and -plist.

dmband0026

Just have two accounts. One with a login, the other set for auto login. Keep all your stuff on the account that is password protected, and let anyone have access to the "public" account. This will allow you to have more control over your machine by setting up the account so that you can restrict program usage as well as other things, and you avoid the trouble of encrypted DMGs and the like. I would recommend this option, it is the safest way to do it, and no one but you will ever have to worry about the other account as the "public" account will be set for auto login.

aquatic

No, no NO. Windows users have never even HEARD of disc images. Did you know that? my roommate, a real smart guy, even with computers, had never heard of one. Macs seem to like them, and ask flexible as they may be with OS X they are not a folder and switchers and hell even I don't feel like dicking with them. Doesn't UNIX have some way to separately password a folder, so only root can bypass it? It would be a really nice feature to see in a 10.3.x or just 10.4.

voxapps

Here's another solution of the "hide in plain sight" variety:



LameSecure



This (free) program allows you to create a dummy folder which is actually the LameSecure application. Click on the folder in the finder and it "opens" to show an empty folder. But click on the folder while holding down a modifier key and a password box pops up: the correct password gives you access to your secured folder containing vital financial records *cough* pr0n *cough*. All the program does is rename your folder with a "." prefix, so it's invisible in the finder (and in a standard Sherlock search that doesn't look for invisible items).



I wouldn't store any government secrets this way, but it is more than adequate to keep prying eyes off your stuff. As the author says, "This program in essence provides no real security; it just does a good job of pretending to."

michael wilkie

All you need to do is "Get Info" for the folder, then select "Ownership and Permissions" and only grant access to the root user. This will prompt everyone with an authentication dialogue upon opening said folder. Of course, you'll have to enable the root account in NetInfo first.

dage007

Actually I may have to do that because for some reason I tried doing the disk image thing, and it sonstantly says taht the drive is in use. I tried it on my scratch disk to test it out, and it wont work, nor will my external raid either.



So as far as the net info is concerned, do i just go into it and make up a root account or something?



then set up a password for that account and set the folders i want to protect as root?



then what? to access it, the folder might prompt me for a password, which is the one for the root user i guess?



thanks



dave

dmband0026

Quote:

Originally posted by Michael Wilkie

All you need to do is "Get Info" for the folder, then select "Ownership and Permissions" and only grant access to the root user. This will prompt everyone with an authentication dialogue upon opening said folder. Of course, you'll have to enable the root account in NetInfo first.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, and NO again! Do not do this. Unless you are a computer expert (and by expert I mean you helped write OS X) you should not routinely use root. There may be certain times that it would be necessary to enable it, but DO NOT use it on a regular basis just to have password protected folders! See my post from above about creating a second account. I truly believe this is your best option and it is virtually hassle free. It will allow you to have an entire home folder that is password protected as well as allowing you to have more control over what happens on your machine with the ability to set up an administrator account.

bauman

Quote:

Originally posted by DMBand0026

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, and NO again! Do not do this. Unless you are a computer expert (and by expert I mean you helped write OS X) you should not routinely use root. There may be certain times that it would be necessary to enable it, but DO NOT use it on a regular basis just to have password protected folders! See my post from above about creating a second account. I truly believe this is your best option and it is virtually hassle free. It will allow you to have an entire home folder that is password protected as well as allowing you to have more control over what happens on your machine with the ability to set up an administrator account.

Well, he's not logging in as root. It's just a simple way to prompt for an admin password. Just like sudo. It's not that bad. \

eugene

Quote:

Originally posted by Aquatic

No, no NO. Windows users have never even HEARD of disc images. Did you know that?

No, I have not heard that because that would be incorrect. I'd say many Windows users have dealt with .iso, .nrg, and other various disk image formats.

Quote:

my roommate, a real smart guy, even with computers, had never heard of one. Macs seem to like them, and ask flexible as they may be with OS X they are not a folder and switchers and hell even I don't feel like dicking with them. Doesn't UNIX have some way to separately password a folder, so only root can bypass it? It would be a really nice feature to see in a 10.3.x or just 10.4.

A mounted disk image is exactly the same as any other actual directory structure. The various Un*xes have NO WAY to implement password protecting a folder that will be pervasive across any filesystem or platform.



Just use a disk image. That's what they were designed for.

tommy_thompson

How about puzzlepalace? I have used that for it seems forever. the only you have to compress the file before it will encrypt it. I use this at work as well, but am forced to only keep small things like jpgs and text files in it only. no real artwork. Just thought I would suggest that, as my hat in the ring. Not perfect, but free.





~tommy

sonofsylvanus

Quote:

Originally posted by Voxapps

Here's another solution of the "hide in plain sight" variety:



LameSecure

www.extraneous.com offline? I can't download the widget from VersionTracker either. Safari or IE...



What do you mean, p0rn?