OS reset itself after it got stuck on FileVault.

[toramisu]

Hi,

Has anyone had this happen to them? I shut down the laptop and the FileVault box popped up and I chose FileVault. But before it was finished vaulting, I closed the laptop and put it away. The next day I opened it the FileVault window was still spinning, obviously stuck. So I shut it down using the power button. When I opened it again and went to Safari, it had reset itself. All my bookmarks were gone. The history was still there, though. So I restarted, and this time it was worse, as all the history was wiped out too, and the dock had been reset, and my Stickies were all gone. (I'm sure there are other tings too that I just haven't noticed yet.)

When I told my co-workers what had happened, none of them were familiar with FileVault, which surprised me since that screen pops up almost every time I shut down. Is it doing that because I'm running out of memory?

Is there any way to restore the old preferences and recover my lost bookmarks and Stickies??? Please help!

Thanks,
~Tora

[ElDiabloConCaca]

Originally Posted by toramisu

I shut down the laptop and the FileVault box popped up and I chose FileVault. But before it was finished vaulting, I closed the laptop and put it away. The next day I opened it the FileVault window was still spinning, obviously stuck. So I shut it down using the power button.

Is it doing that because I'm running out of memory?

No, most likely it's because you interrupted (sleeping the computer, then shutting it down without FileVault completing it's operation) a very vital task that is key to the correct operation of FileVault.

You shouldn't ever, ever, ever suddenly shut down Mac OS X or interrupt FileVault processes, no matter how much of a hurry you're in.

[toramisu]

So, is there nothing I can do now to restore bookmarks and Stickies then? Thanks.

[Mobius Rex]

Maybe I'm chicken, but I just give FileVault a wide birth......I won't use it. I've heard many horror stories from people who've experienced lots of grief as a result of using it. FileVault seems to be as treacherous as a rabid pit bull. Am I overreacting?

[ElDiabloConCaca]

If used properly, it is great for securing extremely sensitive data.

I would not recommend using it for casual home users, though -- no hacker in the world has any use for family photos, music, your Word documents, or your home expense Excel spreadsheets. Now, if you work for the NSA and store keys for 256-bit encryption schemes, maybe FileVault is for you... but for the casual user, there's nothing on your hard drive that a hacker or theif would want (of course, if you store any kind of personal information like credit card numbers on your computer, you're BEGGING for trouble, whether you use FileVault or not).

You can try mounting the FileVault sparseimage, which should prompt you for a password -- it should be the login password for the account that FileVault was used under. Then you should be able to copy any data off of the mounted sparseimage that you need.

[Mobius Rex]

I prefer to encrypt individual files /folders as I need to;
CipherWorks http://www.subrosasoft.com/OSXSoftwa...products_id=33
does it well for me without problems. It's expensive now, but I originally purchased it in it's previous incarnation some time ago when it cost about a third the price of CipherWorks; I got a free upgrade.
There are other encryption apps that work well and cost a lot less. One can search MacUpdate or Versiontracker
using "encryption" as the search word. You'll then get a list of encryption apps and can then try various ones out.

[toramisu]

"You can try mounting the FileVault sparseimage, which should prompt you for a password -- it should be the login password for the account that FileVault was used under. Then you should be able to copy any data off of the mounted sparseimage that you need."

How do I access that? I tried to do a find, but nothing came up for FileVault or sparseimage. This is all Greek to me, so forgive me if this seems elementary. Thanks so much!