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How can I protect private folders on my Mac?

My sister and I share a Mac computer and I'm tired of her looking at my files. Is there some way I can protect or hide my folders without downloading any software she'd notice?


Dave's Answer:

Seems to me that the very best possible solution is for you and your sister to set up different accounts on your Mac, actually. That's one of the real benefits of Mac OS X (and, for that matter, Windows too).

You can do that by simply going to Apple --> System Preferences... --> Accounts and setting up an account for her. Then simply ensure that you log out when you're done with the computer each time and she won't be able to get to any of your files and you'll be safe from having her mess with your preferences, settings, etc.

No? That's not what you want to do?

Okay, I'll give you a couple of neat Terminal tricks that can help you out, one that lets you make a folder closed to everyone and another that makes it disappear completely until you make it reappear.

In both cases, you'll need to launch Applications --> Utilities --> Terminal.app. It'll start out in your account "home" directory, which you can check by typing pwd. Move to the directory where your folder or files lives by typing in cd followed by the name of the directory.

For example, if I wanted to protect a folder on the Desktop, then I'd type in cd Desktop and move there.

Now, to make a folder completely locked and unreadable, simply type in:

$ chmod 000 my-protected-folder

You won't get any feedback but you'll end up with something like this (pay particular attention to the "testing123" folder and how it's portrayed):

Folder protected / locked in Mac OS X

To get back in when you want to, simply go back to the same place with the "cd" command and type in:

$ chmod 775 my-protected-folder

To hide a folder or file completely, simply preface its name with a ".". For example, to hide "testing123" I'd rename it ".testing123":

$ mv testing123 ".testing123"

Wanna get that one back to normal? Go back to the same directory and type in the reverse: mv .testing123 testing123

So there you go, three possible solutions to your problem. Hope one of them works out for you!


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Categorized: Mac OS X Help   (Article 7874, Written by )
Tagged: confidentiality, hidden folders, mac os x, privacy, security
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Reader Comments To Date: 6

Jayce said, on February 4, 2008 10:01 PM:

I have a suggestion: what about using Disk Utility to make an encrypted disk image (just make the initial image with enough head room to accommodate the folder growing to a big size later) and password protect it.

Opening (mounting) the image would require a password each time you want to open (read from or write files to the folder). Remember to eject the image once you're done using it.

While this seems simpler for the novice user than using the terminal it would be pretty obvious to other users, or your sister in this case. But if you put the image in a place that was a little out of the way she might just mistake it for something that belongs to the system.

Just an idea..

Hilda Oquendo said, on August 18, 2008 12:56 AM:

I didn't understand
someone explain me what to do again?

Natalie said, on October 4, 2008 7:11 PM:

Hi,
We just updated to Panther and now have a dual system that can handle either mac or windows.

I now have something that has appeared "On My Mac" that contains all the folders I've created to store information.

Unfortunately I do no have the ability to add any additional "Folders" as I was able to do prior.

Can you explain what has happened and if I can fix this?

Thank you,
Natalie

kurt cobain said, on November 26, 2008 4:00 AM:

how can i protect my video cd(.dat) from burn/copy? i wanna lock it

kurt cobain said, on November 26, 2008 4:06 AM:

how can i protect my video cd(.dat) from burn/copy? i wanna lock it

Ray said, on December 3, 2009 7:22 PM:

On my MacBook I have Administrator Account, 2 other normal accounts and guest account. I have just discovered that in Finder for any of the accounts, including guest, I can Search for images, movies and documents and I can see and open the images, movies and documents from other accounts. I thought you cannot have access to the other accounts unless you have the password or use the public folder. I can also delete these files.

Starbucks coffee cup I do have a lot to say, and questions of my own for that matter, but first I'd like to say thank you, Dave, for all your helpful information by buying you a cup of coffee!

I do have a comment, now that you mention it!











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