“May I use your laptop for a few minutes?”
If you want to make some files or folders disappear, there are several methods to hide files and folders on your Mac. This won’t encrypt the files, but it will make them invisible while browsing in Finder. Hide Files with System Commands. MacOS offers a couple ways that allow experienced users to employ system functionality to hide files. Macs, like other operating systems, offer a way to cover files and folders, but Mac OS X masks those options and doesn’t make it as easy as it is on Windows and Linux.So, in this post, I will guide you on how to hide and show hidden files on Mac using Terminal. However, It’s supposed to be so simple and intuitive to do stuff on a Mac that when something isn’t, it’s shocking. The second command instructs macOS Sierra to close then reopen all the Finder Windows. This way, when the Finder relaunches, it has all the files and folders including the ones that had been hidden. Unhide a File or Folder on macOS. To open the Terminal app, click on Go then Utilities then double click on the Terminal app. Dec 10, 2018 Sometimes you may want to hide certain apps in macOS without actually uninstalling them. This may be because you still want access to the apps in the future, or because you don’t want users of the Mac to launch the app via Finder, or even when dealing with built-in Apple apps which aren’t always a good idea to remove. For example, you can lock down a folder or app when you close the app or window of that folder. It can also be integrated into Apple FileVault to provide maximum security. On the other hand, you can find Spotlight integration to find out various files, folders, apps, etc. Talking about the encryption, you can get AES-256 bit encryption.
What is your gut instinct when you hear these words? Uncertainty, because you’re not sure when you last encrypted and sorted your video files? Fear that the person may click on the “wrong” folder? Do you hover around in case you have to tackle them because they’re about to click on a folder that stores your personal video and media files?
These are not the thoughts of someone that is paranoid, rather they are the thoughts of someone who wants privacy. While the scenario above is focused on shared Macs, there are far more sinister alternatives like your system being stolen or a hacker gaining access.
How to keep private video safe on macOS
We are going to show you some practical measures that you can take to ensure that your video files are properly secured. We start with manual methods and then reveal the best video hiding tool of all, Hider 2.
Hide videos in plain sight (but not total securely)
There are many basic ways in which you can hide your video folders and files. Even though they are not super secure, these simple solutions may be enough for you to feel at ease.
The most obvious method, which many people use, is to give your video folder a boring name like “Data” and move the folder somewhere obscure where it wouldn’t be found by accident. You can take this even further by renaming your video files to make it even less likely that a search for private media files would pick them up.
Personally, I wouldn’t feel very safe with that as many only method so let’s look at something a bit more effective – the easy little trick of hiding private videos in another account on your Mac.
Simply create a new user in the System Preferences Users & Groups preference pane, then log in to it and put the video files and folders you want to hide into that account. This does mean you have to constantly switch accounts to access your hidden videos, but it will at least eliminate the accidental discovery by a colleague or family member. Wifi blocker app.
Use encryption as your video locker
A method with a much higher level of security is encryption. By encrypting your private videos or video folder, you will make sure it cannot be viewed even if someone finds it. Once encrypted you can also move it to an external drive or even backup to DropBox, knowing that if you drive is lost or your cloud is hacked, your videos will remain secure.
The MacOS app, Disk Utility, can do this for you but it wasn’t developed for the purpose of hiding files so it’s not an ideal solution.
If you want to give it a try we’re going to show you have to create an encrypted folder (in this case called an “image”) with Disk Utility.
- Open Disk Utility
- In the top bar choose File > New Image > Blank image
- In the dialog choose where you want the image to be created, the name, and all other simple information
- We recommend macOS Extended for format.
- 256 bit AES for encryption. You’ll be asked to create a new password, choose a strong password that you will remember (or use Keychain Assistant, its icon is next to the form).
- No Partition Map for partitions, and Read/Write Disk Image for image format.
- Click Save
Be focused mac app. Disk Utility will then create and mount the encrypted image. Now open Finder and move your private videos into the image like it was a disk drive. When you’re done, simply unmount the image and your videos are now safe and secure.
To view them just double click the image you’ve created and enter in the password. Remember to always unmount the image when you’re done.
Hide video files with Terminal
Using Terminal to hide video files and folders is effective, but cumbersome. You can absolutely guarantee that these files will be hidden, but it’s a laborious process every time you want to hide and access a file or folder.
Here’s how to hide videos with Terminal.
Method 1:
- In Terminal, type chflags hidden
- Drag a folder or file you want to hide into the Terminal window
- Make a note of the path of the file folder.
- Press Enter
Your video file or folder will now be hidden from Finder.
To access your hidden video file or folder navigate to Finder > Go > Go to Folder and enter the path e.g. ~Desktop/HiddenVideos. In this sense, the folder or files are always there, but you have to know the path to find them. Mac app bundle subscription.
To permanently unhide a video folder or files, go back to Terminal and type chflags no hidden followed by the file or folder path.
Method 2:
Type mv filename .filename in Terminal. This moves the original folder to one with a period at the beginning of its name; by default, folders with periods at the beginning of their names are hidden in macOS.
You can also type mkdir .hiddenfolder to create a new hidden folder. You can access those hidden folders and files by summoning the Go to Folder dialog (Command-Shift-G) and typing in their full paths.
Use a specialized video locker to keep your privacy
In a perfect world all of the Terminal functions and the encryption security of the Disk Utility method would be combined into one user-friendly interface with all of the security and none of the drawbacks, difficulty or vulnerabilities.
Well, welcome to the perfect world because there is a great video hider app called Hider 2.
It is the quickest and easiest method for securing your most personal video files from snoops and unintentional exposure.
Simply download, install and launch to create a password for your new video locker (although you can hide any type of file – hide photos, hide documents, even hide songs). With an easy drag and drop interface, Hider 2 will hide your video files in minutes.
Once your video files are toggled to hidden, no amount of searching will find them. And, as a bonus, with 256 bit AES encryption, you have a strong layer of security that even hackers can’t break into. It’s rare to have such a powerful security feature that is also so easy that anyone can use it.
Now you know how to hide videos in a video locker
Hiding video files on your mac doesn’t have to be a chore that takes up hours and hours. It’s great to be able to have many different solutions and tools at your fingertips. Whether you want something super simple or secure but complicated or the best of both worlds, you have the choice.
It’s time to take control of your privacy so that you can rest assured that what is personal to you does not become public knowledge.
Application
Hey,
Although your Mac is reasonably secure, it is unlikely that your file are to be stolen. However, if you want that extra piece of mind in hiding your files from prying eyes you want a simple app that can do it for you. Today’s post is all about showing you how to hide these files and folders, such as financial documents, or super secret files you want want opening by other people. Its going to use a simple app called Hider. Its designed to quickly hide your files with ease.
Hiding Files And Folders
If you want to hide files manually, its normally a right pain. It takes Terminal commands and methods that are not easy to use. Hider, on the other hand, takes all of the hassle out of hiding files. To hide a file you drag it into the window (or use the dialog to pick the file) and then press the hide button. The app will then work its magic and the file will disappear.
Adding files is quick and simple. You can quickly add files into the app and then hide them all at once. I am not 100% in the method it uses to hide the files and folders, but for the casual browser its probably good enough that they will never find them. If you want an added piece of security Hider also allows you to add a password before a file is hidden or revealed.
The application also extents the functionality in the form of groups. If you have a range of files, in many places you may want to group them together. This is slightly different to folders, in that folders are a specific folder on your hard drive. Groups allows any files, in any location to be hidden at once. By using a group you can pick all of your files that may be scattered in many places and quickly hide or show them with one click.
The app also has Finder functionality. If you enable the plugin, the services menu and the right click menu option within Finder will allow you to directly add a file to Hider and thus be hidden. Its a lot quicker than using the app directly. Its also easy to use if you want to go on a hiding spree.
You can hide files directly from Finder.
Although you need the app to hide and show files. The quick button click it takes to hide an item is relatively simple. The application also has quick look built into the app and various file stats. Its like a mini Finder to help organise your files.
Conclusion
If you want to hide files and folders, this is the app for you. It is really simple, easy to use and doesn’t take much time at all to use. In my tests and experiments I was hiding and unhiding files and folders really easily. The functionality of the app also make this app fun to use. You don’t have to struggle to hide files, it just does it.
The only problem I have with this app is what happens if it doesn’t run and if you can get your files back. I think you can, as the app will use some rare, inbuilt method, but it is something to bare in mind.
If you want this app, you can get it from the app store. I like Hider, it does the job.
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