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Post by Quint on Apr 25, 2022 17:24:47 GMT -6
Do you guys encrypt your external drives? External project audio drives? External sample library drives? External backup drives? If so, why? If not, why not?
I'm used to mostly everything being internal in my PC, so I've never had to think about encryption on all of these external drives I have now. Is encryption necessary or should I not worry about it? Does encryption result in a performance hit or other headaches down the line? It seems like it might.
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Post by notneeson on Apr 25, 2022 18:56:29 GMT -6
I had an experience where an encrypted drive was a real bummer on a production machine, but I am afraid I don't remember all the details, just that I am sure not to encrypt at this point.
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Post by Quint on Apr 25, 2022 19:57:36 GMT -6
I had an experience where an encrypted drive was a real bummer on a production machine, but I am afraid I don't remember all the details, just that I am sure not to encrypt at this point. Yeah, it's stories like that that make me think twice about doing encryption. I hadn't ever even really thought about any of this until tonight when I went to start formatting my new SSDs and the SanDisk installation software asked if I wanted to encrypt. I'm not sure if I want to or not. Also can you encrypt after the fact, or do you have to make that decision prior to formatting at the beginning? |
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Post by deaconblues on Apr 25, 2022 20:21:05 GMT -6
I haven’t encrypted a drive since I took Avid training courses 20 yrs back and they said don’t do it to audio or video edit volumes. It’s more processing that has to happen, and even if trivial, it adds up across files and edits. Every ms counts in audio, so it makes sense to me. Unless you’re doing Harry Caul type work, I would skip it…and if you ever lose the encryption key: yikes.
I think Mac’s FileVault can encrypt an already formatted drive with data on it, I just haven’t ever done it myself. Also, if you’re on a Mac, don’t use the SanDisk installers, just use Disk Utility on the OS to format…minimizes the possibility of some 3rd party nonsense ending up on your machine.
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Post by sirthought on Apr 25, 2022 21:22:05 GMT -6
I don't encrypt myself.
I do know of studios that encrypt backup drives. I'm not sure if they did it with production drives or not. They actually had a situation where hackers got into their system and stole recordings that had yet to be released and I think some of that music ended up on a Torrent website.
Your backups are there just in case of emergency. It might be a worthwhile step to make sure those are protected since you probably are never thinking about them, other than making sure a backup occurs.
Production drives is a different call, due to the reasons mentioned by others. But you can certainly encrypt particular folders. Things like accounting, records, or contracts wouldn't be the worst idea.
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Post by Quint on Apr 26, 2022 5:55:57 GMT -6
Ok. No encryption then. I've never done it before either, but I had a moment of "should I be?" and decided I should see what others were doing. I'm glad the answer was to not do it. I honestly wasn't looking forward to yet one more thing I had to learn about and implement. The transition to Mac has already had enough of a learning curve as it is.
No encryption. Check
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Post by svart on Apr 26, 2022 9:23:01 GMT -6
Encryption definitely takes a performance hit, especially if you're trying to use it while encrypted. I mean, it has to do the un-encryption on the fly if you're trying to use it in real-time.
So, let me ask a dumb question.. Why would you want to encrypt the drive in the first place?
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Post by Quint on Apr 26, 2022 9:32:35 GMT -6
Encryption definitely takes a performance hit, especially if you're trying to use it while encrypted. I mean, it has to do the un-encryption on the fly if you're trying to use it in real-time. So, let me ask a dumb question.. Why would you want to encrypt the drive in the first place? I don't know. You tell me?  I never have before, and wasn't exactly looking to start, but I figured I should ask, in case that's what best practice dictates and I just simply wasn't aware. |
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Post by svart on Apr 26, 2022 9:39:49 GMT -6
Encryption definitely takes a performance hit, especially if you're trying to use it while encrypted. I mean, it has to do the un-encryption on the fly if you're trying to use it in real-time. So, let me ask a dumb question.. Why would you want to encrypt the drive in the first place? I don't know. You tell me?  I never have before, and wasn't exactly looking to start, but I figured I should ask, in case that's what best practice dictates and I just simply wasn't aware. Oh ok. I've only ever encrypted drives that had sensitive data where the drive was passed around between people, traveled, etc, in case it was lost. That wasn't even MS encryption, but some 3rd party thing that my company required. Honestly, if it's just a few drives you have around the studio I wouldn't bother. |
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Post by Quint on Apr 26, 2022 10:36:38 GMT -6
I don't know. You tell me? I never have before, and wasn't exactly looking to start, but I figured I should ask, in case that's what best practice dictates and I just simply wasn't aware. Oh ok. I've only ever encrypted drives that had sensitive data where the drive was passed around between people, traveled, etc, in case it was lost. That wasn't even MS encryption, but some 3rd party thing that my company required. Honestly, if it's just a few drives you have around the studio I wouldn't bother. That seems to be the concensus I'm seeing here. I'm not gonna bother with encryption. Which is good. It's one less thing to have to worry about. |
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