Mac – Trying to encrypt external HD . GPT scheme required . Do not want to erase data

disk-utilityencryptionexternal-diskmacpartition

Hey so i'm trying to encrypt my external hard drive (Seagate) and I right clicked on it and selected Encrypt [name] from the menu. Made my password but could not move forward because I got the error "A GUID Partition Table (GTP) scheme is required" so then I went into Disk Utility and tried to change the partitioning scheme but it looks like it will erase all my data.

How can I encrypt my external without erasing anything? I have a Mac (Mavericks)

Best Answer

This might answer your question - though it scares me to death - https://superuser.com/questions/495672/how-can-i-convert-a-mbr-partition-to-gpt-without-loss-of-data

Alternatively, iPartition can do it - but can't handle Core Storage Volumes, so it's usefulness may be short-lived as more of these come into use. [Unless they release an update, of course]

Either way, I'd make sure to have a backup before starting.