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General Information

How much secure is an encrypted space created by Protect Files?
Protect Files leverage on Mac OS X technology to create disk images with AES encryption which is one of the most secure encryption methods widely adopted from many governments. See Security section of Advanced Encryption Standard page at Wikipedia to learn more.

One minute guide to protect your files

1. The Application
This is the application icon, double click it to create your first encrypted space. Creating an encrypted space it's very easy, just follow the online step by step guide which asks you the name you want to give to encrypted space, the size and the password you want to use to protect your data. You use this application only to create new encrypted space file.

2. The File
This is the encrypted space file, it contains all your encrypted data, you can keep it on the Mac's hard disk, an external disk, or a USB drive. When you want to access your files, just double-click this icon, enter your password and the space will show up as a volume on your desktop.

3. The Volume
This is the encrypted space volume, it contains all your files, documents and folders and you use it as a regular external disk: just copy the files you want to protect inside this volume. After working with it, eject the volume by clicking the Eject button in the sidebar of a Finder window or dragging its icon to the Trash.

The 3 most Frequently Asked Questions are...

What is the advantage of using an Encrypted Space vs. a standard Disk Image?
The Encrypted Space is packed up in a convenient and easy interface to unlock and lock the space. Additionally the Encrypted Space, automatically optimizes the enclosed disk image to reclaim unused space every time the space is used. What's more the encrypted space application guides the user when using the encrypted space with clear step by step information.

Where are stored my data?
By default the application creates an encrypted space file which is a little application containing an encrypted disk image, the application automatically optimizes the enclosed disk image to reclaim unused space every time the space is used.

What kind of encryption is used to encrypt data?
By default the application uses 128-bit AES encryption but optionally user can specify in the preferences the use of even stronger 256-bit AES encryption.

Troubleshooting

What can I do whether I lost my password?
If you forget the password you will not able to access the files stored on the encrypted space. Forgotten passwords cannot be retrived. The only way you have to access again the data is the one to remember the password you used when creating the encrypted space. You can find interesting advice about creating strong passwords you can remember here: Creating Secure Passwords [About.com].

Accessing the data without launcing an Encrypted Space
Technically speaking an encrypted space file is an application containing an encrypted disk image where is stored your data encrypted with a password. If you want to access this data without to launch the encrypted space application:

• Locate the encrypted space file application in the Finder
• Control-click its icon and choose the menu item "Show Pakage Content" from the contextual menu.
• Localize the encrypted disk image file containing your data which is located here:

In spaces created under Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard:
Contents/Resources/<spaceName>.sparsebundle

In spaces created under Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger:
Contents/Resources/<spaceName>.sparseimage

• To access your files and folders, double-click the file and enter your password.

Please note that forgotten passwords cannot be retrived.