FileVault 2 (what is shipped with Yosemite and later editions of OS/X) should be avoided unless you are very, very concerned about corporate espionage or some such. My own experience: I got a brand new Mac Book Pro Retina (2015). I thought I'd try it out and see if there was a noticable performance impact, so I turned on FileVault.

FileVault is an encryption system available on some Mac computers. When enabled, it might prevent Bluetooth ® devices from connecting with your computer if you have not yet logged in. If you have FileVault enabled, we recommend using the provided USB receiver to use your keyboard. FileVault protects in two parts: You know the first, which is that while a Mac is at rest (that is, powered down), its startup drive remains strongly encrypted, so even if the data is extracted FileVault is a built-in encryption mechanism developed by Apple, and it encrypts all files on Mac's startup disk. It is worth to enable the FileVault because this will prevent from accessing the user data in case if the MacBook is lost or stolen. And now, let's go over the basics. The Impact of FileVault on Mac Performace The Mac will automatically reboot and begin the decryption process, which is necessary to disable FileVault. Decrypting the drive can take quite a while or may go quickly, depending on the speed of the Mac, the speed of the disk drive (SSD is much faster than HDD), how large the drive is, and how much stuff you have you stored on it. FileVault 2 (which wasn't referred to by Apple with the numbering) provides full-disk encryption using XTS-AES-128 encryption with a 256-bit key, able to keep away everyone who doesn't have the password to unlock the content stored on your Mac's startup disk. FileVault is an amazing disk level encryption feature that comes with Mac OS X. When it has been enabled, it encrypts everything, all disk contents, and actively encrypts and decrypts data on the fly, meaning any newly created data or document will instantly be encrypted as well.It's fast and incredibly secure, using XTS-AES 128 encryption to keep things far out of the reaches of prying eyes. First the top button should say "Turn On FileVault" and at the bottom, it should say "FileVault is turned off for the disk "Macintosh HD"" (or whatever your disk is called). Conclusion As I said, unless you find yourself reinstalling the system, wiping the system in preparation for a sale, or switching off FileVault due to

First the top button should say "Turn On FileVault" and at the bottom, it should say "FileVault is turned off for the disk "Macintosh HD"" (or whatever your disk is called). Conclusion As I said, unless you find yourself reinstalling the system, wiping the system in preparation for a sale, or switching off FileVault due to

FileVault 2 (which wasn't referred to by Apple with the numbering) provides full-disk encryption using XTS-AES-128 encryption with a 256-bit key, able to keep away everyone who doesn't have the password to unlock the content stored on your Mac's startup disk.

FileVault 2 is a great way to secure the contents of your Mac computers. Here's how to use Terminal to manage FileVault 2 permissions on the fly or using bash scripts.

In this Mac 101 article, we'll take a detailed look at FileVault, how it works, things to watch out for when using it, and why owners of Mac laptops should consider using FileVault. The current implementation of FileVault is known as FileVault 2 — for the purpose of brevity in this post, it will just be called FileVault. FileVault is a built-in encryption feature on Mac computers using XTS-AES-128 encryption with a 256-bit key. It was first added to Mac OS X 10.3 Panther to encrypt only home folder, and then Mac OS X 10.7 Lion and later was equipped with FileVault 2 to encrypt the full startup disk.