How long does it take to encrypt a 4TB drive?

[blackxacto]

17,1 iMac, 10.14.2, 24GB RAM, - TO - a Time Machine formatted WD Passport USB3 4TB external Hard Drive. It's been over 24 hours and Mojave is only 3/4 finished encrypting my 4TB drive.

Is this normal for 4TB drive using USB3?

 

[David G.]

Sounds about right to me with my experience encrypting a 4TB WD Elements hard drive.

 

[jpn]

at least 36 hours. maybe even 72 hours.

it does depend on what your connection is: wired or wireless. and if its wired, is it USB3.? what standard, etc etc.

wireless can take days, and at the end of it finish with an error message.

 

[blackxacto]

is it USB3.?

Yes

 

[jpn]

Yes

3.0 vs 3.1 is about a day or so difference in time.

 

[blackxacto]

3.0 vs 3.1 is about a day or so difference in time.

Are you kidding? I appreciate you responding, I've only owned a 2TB Fusion + 128ssd. Forgot about 2, 1TB external drives. Just don't remember it taking this long. There isn't anything on my drive. What is it encrypting?

 

[jpn]

Are you kidding? ...There isn't anything on my drive. What is it encrypting?

that's the point.
that's what i also discovered in the past:
i have started to use a drive for Time Machine but decided later to encrypt it.
takes forever and ever and ever and ever.
even if there is NOTHING on the disk.
therefore, what i have learned is its just better and MUCH quicker (were talking minutes vs days) to just quit the entire process. and format it from the beginning with encryption from the very first. very quick if done that way, vs. later applying encryption to an even "empty" drive.

 

[blackxacto]

Again, I appreciate your time to respond. Had no idea that the faster the technology the slower somethings get. Thanks again.

 

[Easttime]

Day 4 of encrypting a new 1TB Seagate external hard drive in the Time Machine setup process on a 2016 MacBook Pro. I’ve been letting it run 7x24. Only 66% done. I didn’t know one could encrypt it first before setting it up for Time Machine.

 

[blackxacto]

We live and learn, one way or another. Sheeeeesh!

 

[blackxacto]

3+ days and still running. Wouldn't mind knowing just what is so complex about turning on encryption in Mojave.

 

[LogicalApex]

Converting a previously unencrypted drive to an encrypted drive requires a sector by sector encryption and secure wiping process. HDDs don't "delete" data when you delete it instead the pointer to the data is removed from your file system. Without the previously mentioned process a raw HDD read could expose previously unencrypted data on an encrypted drive.

 

[blackxacto]

Why would an encrypted disk, need wiping. As an encrypted disk hides everything to anyone who doesn’t know the key. The only way to use the disk, without using the key, is wiping and reformatting. So why waste time wiping what is already my data.

 

[LV426]

Forensic tools exist that can extract and analyse disk contents sector by sector, whether the content is encrypted or not. So making sure that every sector is encrypted is the way to go.

Why would an encrypted disk, need wiping. As an encrypted disk hides everything to anyone who doesn’t know the key. The only way to use the disk, without using the key, is wiping and reformatting. So why waste time wiping what is already my data.

 

[Lorenzo F]

that's the point.
that's what i also discovered in the past:
i have started to use a drive for Time Machine but decided later to encrypt it.
takes forever and ever and ever and ever.
even if there is NOTHING on the disk.
therefore, what i have learned is its just better and MUCH quicker (were talking minutes vs days) to just quit the entire process. and format it from the beginning with encryption from the very first. very quick if done that way, vs. later applying encryption to an even "empty" drive.

Can anyone explain what the difference is between these two processes? Is a disk better encrypted (i.e. more secure) if you encrypt it later after saving contents to it versus formatting it and encrypting initially before saving files to it?

 

[blackxacto]

4 days later, the encryption is finished. The 4TB must backup for the first time.

 

[blackxacto]

17,1 iMac, 10.14.2, 24GB RAM, - TO - a Time Machine formatted WD Passport USB3 4TB external Hard Drive. It's been over 24 hours and Mojave is only 3/4 finished encrypting my 4TB drive.

Is this normal for 4TB drive using USB3?

SOLUTION: BAD CABLE
Lately, I again trashed the data on the 4TB WD Passport external HD, reformatted and encrypted. Today I discovered the cause of my slow encryption/backup issue with this new drive from WD. The new from the box usb/microB cable was bad. Switched it out today and the disk came alive. The activity light began flashing fast. Encryption ended immediately on the empty drive and Time Machine began backing up.

 

[Howard2k]

You can interrupt the encryption process by gratefully dismounting the drive. You don’t need to encrypt the entire thing in one shot.

 

[blackxacto]

Well, tonite, the encryption didn't take long, but the backup is turtle slow, I'm estimating .01GB/sec. Have decided to purchase a USB3.0 4TB disk to match my iMac USB 3.0 5GB bus speed. OWC chat says it will be speedier. The first issue was the cable which was bad right out of the WD box. Next, even with a working USB cable, I've got a USB2.0 drive. Will report back when the new drive is running.

 

[blackxacto]

The new OWC 4TB USB3.0 drive is running. It took 3 days to encrypt, but writing to it and formatting was very fast. The write indicator light on the WD 4TB drive crawled, the light on the OWC blinks furiously. There must be more to the WD drive slowing things down than being USB 3.0 compatible, there was something sluggish about the device. Don't know what, but won't make the mistake of trying a drive designed for the PC platform again. JMHO.

 

[Tech198]

17,1 iMac, 10.14.2, 24GB RAM, - TO - a Time Machine formatted WD Passport USB3 4TB external Hard Drive. It's been over 24 hours and Mojave is only 3/4 finished encrypting my 4TB drive.

Is this normal for 4TB drive using USB3?

4TB is allot.... It takes more than 24 hours to encrypt my "internal" NAS drive. So, just as a taste, USB3 be slower

 

[LNXJ!7]

that's the point.
that's what i also discovered in the past:
i have started to use a drive for Time Machine but decided later to encrypt it.
takes forever and ever and ever and ever.
even if there is NOTHING on the disk.
therefore, what i have learned is its just better and MUCH quicker (were talking minutes vs days) to just quit the entire process. and format it from the beginning with encryption from the very first. very quick if done that way, vs. later applying encryption to an even "empty" drive.

What is the detailed process to stop a 4T External drive (connected via USB to an iMAC) already in the encrypted process?...And what is the process to remove the encryption that was already in process?...And one more question...As soon as my external 4T drive started to encrypt after I pressed the start encryption button, the iMAC rebooted, and when it came up there was a "grey square in the middle of the iMAC screen blinking on and off and my 4T external drive light was blinking off and on...Now, on 3 1/2 days (72) hours or so, and now the grey square in the middle of the iMAC screen stopped blinking and the external 4T USB drive light is blinking a lot slower than it did when the initial encryption process started and during the middle of the encryption process. The question is: "Is this normal?" The reason I ask is that a grey blinking square in the middle of the iMAC screen usually means the external drive is not recognized by the iMAC system, and there are a lot of other detailed processes that need to be done to fix that one. Well...One more question. Ha, ha, ha!!!...Will the iMac system automatically reboot when the entire 4T USB external drive encryption process is completed? Okay, many thanks.

 

[LNXJ!7]

Et/Al,


After, well, around 48 hours, no response received to my first question posted above. But I did review all the comments and questions prior to posting my rather long question with several key issues/questions above.

But, well, it is day 6 and my 4TB USB External drive is still encrypting.
1. After my iMAC rebooted (like it said it would) before the encryption process started, it booted back up as it should.
2. And the 4TB USB External drive (indicator) light was blinking rapidly like, well, the encryption process initiated and was underway.
3. During the 4TB USB External drive encryption process also noticed a (blinking off and on) grey question mark in the middle of my iMAC screen.
4. Now at day 6, the 4TB USB External drive (indicator) light is blinking off and on really slow (like off, pause, on again). And the question mark in the middle of my iMAC screen is no longer blinking, but rather just there.
5. The key question for all of the above back in this post is the following. And really hoping I get a follow response within 24 hours so I don't do something prematurely and break the encryption process, etc.

- Questions are:

1. Will my iMAC automatically "Reboot" after the entire encryption process has completed?
2. What do items (3-4) above in this thread mean?
3. Are all items (1-5) above normal?

Okay...Think that is about it.

Hope all of you out there have a great day/night/weekend and so on. I plan on doing just that!!!
But really hope this "Puppy" finishes encrypting and my iMAC reboots and all is well so I can move on to some other great stuff I want to do with this iMAC.

God's Speed!!!