[G4] Encrypted Hard Disk

[Alex]

On Thursday, Apr 22, 2004, at 12:17 Canada/Eastern, sr ferenczy wrote:

> I have been using File vault on my laptop since the first update 
> (original version hosed too many people's systems) and havent had a 
> single problem.[...]

Whenever someone says, "There's a problem with such-and-such piece of 
software", invariably there is someone else who says, "But it works 
fine on my machine!"

Usually, it's a misunderstanding. (I think we've already discussed some 
time ago in a thread on disk utilities.)

No reputable company like Apple is going to release a piece of software 
without testing it. But these days it is hardly possible (and certainly 
not economically feasible) to test it against all soft/hard 
combinations out there. It follows that, on average, only a very small 
number of users will experience a problem with a particular product; 
say, well below 1%. Something that affects a great number of users is 
quite rare (e.g., the Intel bad math chip). But it also follows that, 
for various reasons, products do sometimes get released which cause 
problems to a larger than usual number of users.

Certain problems with File Vault have been reported widely. Does that 
mean _all_ users are affected? Absolutely not -- that would be a huge 
story (for us). Does it mean a majority of users are affected? Again, 
no -- that would be a major story. What it means is that a minority of 
keener-than-average users have come across it, perhaps 20% or only 10% 
of the base. But the issue is, when you are handling important files 
(otherwise why encrypt them?) do you want to take the risk of being in 
the 20% or 10% who did have problems, or would you rather use a method 
which has a risk factor well below 1%?

It is said that we learn from our own mistakes; the wise among us also 
learn from the mistakes of others.

f