Encrypt An External Disk Volume

by Wolfram Saringer (2013-11-12)
last change: 2013-11-12

Convert to CoreStorage volume and encrypt in one step:
# diskutil cs convert /Volumes/Spare -passphrase

Or split into two steps:
# diskutil cs convert /Volumes/Spare
# diskutil cs encryptVolume /Volumes/Spare -passphrase

To check the status of the encryption process:
# diskutil cs info /Volumes/Spare

Obviously the volumename 'Spare' should be replaced by your volume in question...