Table of Content
    Mac Data Recovery

    Guide to Recover Data from an Encrypted Mac Hard Drive


    Table of Content

      Summary: Hard drive encryption is a useful utility on Mac that helps users password-protect their confidential data on the system or an external hard drive. Sometimes, an encrypted hard drive becomes inaccessible & malfunctions due to logical errors. In this blog, learn how to encrypt & decrypt an external hard drive or the native disk drive on Mac. Also, get a guide to recover data from a malfunctioning or inaccessible encrypted hard drive.

      Drive encryption in Mac allows users to secure confidential data from unwanted access or theft. Users can enable drive encryption on a Mac’s native disk drive and external storage drives like HDDs, SSDs, etc.

      add encryption to mac hard drive

      The only way to decrypt an external Mac hard drive and access its data is to enter the decryption key. Without it, you won’t be able to access or recover your data from an encrypted Mac hard drive/solid state drive.

      Let’s dive in to learn more about Mac disk drive encryption & decryption in detail.

      What is Mac Hard Drive Encryption?

      macOS offers FileVault – a built-in feature to encrypt native Mac disk drives and external hard drives to protect your data from prying eyes, thefts, and hackers. FileVault full-disk encryption (FileVault 2) uses XTS-AES-128-bit encryption with a 256-bit key to help prevent unapproved access to the information on your startup disk.

      How to Encrypt and Decrypt Mac Hard Drive?

      macOS has several native methods to encrypt and decrypt a Mac hard drive. The following sections illustrate the methods in detail. We will also look at how to recover data from an encrypted or corrupt Mac hard drive.

      Method 1: Encrypt or Decrypt Mac hard drive using Finder

      macOS Finder allows you to encrypt or decrypt your internal or external Mac hard drive and volume quickly.

      Encrypt a Storage Drive using Finder

      To encrypt your Mac hard drive by using Finder, perform the following steps –

      • Use the internal Mac volume or connect the external storage drive you wish to encrypt.
      • Launch Finder, and from the left pane, secondary-click a drive or volume and select the Encrypt ‘Drive_Name’ option.
      encrypt disk drive on mac via finder
      • Set a password and hint as requested by macOS. Wait until the hard drive encrypts. From now on, you need to key in the password to unlock the drive.

      Similar to encrypting a hard drive, macOS Finder also makes the process of decryption easy.

      Decrypt a Hard Drive Using Finder

      • Open Finder, and from the left pane, secondary-click on the encrypted hard drive and select the Decrypt ‘Drive_Name’ option.
      • After decrypting the drive, access the hard drive directly without any password.
      enter password to decrypt mac hard drive

      Method 2: Encrypt or Decrypt Storage Drive using FileVault

      FileVault is the native disk encryption application that allows you to encrypt your startup disk. It uses your login password as an encryption key.

      Encrypt your Mac hard drive using FileVault –

      • Go to Apple menu > System Preferences > Security & Privacy > FileVault tab.
      • Click the Lock icon and enter admin credentials. Click the “Turn On FileVault” button.
      • Provide a password to encrypt the disk. Your Mac encrypts the disk in the background. You can check the encryption progress from the FileVault section.
      • After encryption, restart your Mac and provide the login password to finish starting up.
      turn on hard drive encryption on mac via file vault

      Decrypt your Mac hard drive using FileVault –

      • Open the FileVault tab from Security & Privacy, as explained before. Click the “Turn Off FileVault” button. Your Mac decrypts the disk in the background. You can check the decryption progress from the FileVault section.
      • After decryption, restart your Mac. Now, you won’t need any password to unlock your Mac hard drive.

      Method 3: Encrypt or Decrypt Storage Drive using Disk Utility

      Disk Utility has the option to erase your Mac hard drive in an encrypted format—APFS (Case-sensitive, encrypted), Mac OS Extended (Journaled, Encrypted), or Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled, Encrypted).

      Encrypt your Mac hard drive using Disk Utility –

      • For non-startup disks, launch Disk Utility from Finder > Applications > Utilities. Or else, press Command + Spacebar to bring Spotlight. Type disk utility and click the Disk Utility search result to launch the application.
      • From Disk Utility, select the internal non-boot Mac volume or the external hard drive you want to protect via password, and click the Erase tab.
      erase hdd on mac via disk utility

      Warning: Erasing a drive will remove all its content, so back up before performing the erase operation.

      • In the Format section, click the drop-down menu to select an encryption format.
      select the new file system on mac hdd
      • In the Name section, provide your hard drive with a name and click Erase. Before macOS erases the drive, it displays a dialog box asking for a password.
      • Enter a password that is easy to remember yet difficult to crack for others. Don’t forget to provide a Password Hint. Disk Utility completes the erase process of your hard drive.
      add password to mac hdd
      • When the erase process is over, the encrypted drive mounts on the Mac. Enter the drive’s password each time you access it. If you forget the password, the drive will become inaccessible.

      Encrypt Macintosh HD, the startup disk, using Disk Utility in macOS Recovery mode –

      • Start or restart your Mac immediately by pressing and holding the Command + R keys. Release the keys when the Apple logo appears. Your Mac boots into macOS Recovery mode.
      • From the macOS Utilities window, select Disk Utility and click Continue. Erase the startup disk in an encryption format after backing it up using Time Machine.
      • Reinstall macOS from the macOS Utilities window. Finally, restore the backed-up data from the Time Machine backup drive to the encrypted drive.

      Disk Utility also lets you decrypt a Mac hard drive that you have erased using an encryption format.

      Decrypt your Mac hard drive using Disk Utility –

      • Open Disk Utility, then select your encrypted storage drive.
      • To unlock the hard drive, go to File > Unlock ‘Drive_Name.’
      • Enter the password when prompted.
      • To decrypt the hard drive, go to File > Turn Off Encryption.

      Method 4: Encrypt or Decrypt Storage Drive using Terminal

      Terminal is a powerful application that can help you encrypt or decrypt your Mac hard drive. However, working with Terminal requires a complete knowledge of the Terminal commands, and any incorrect operation can result in data loss. So, back up your data from the drive before executing any Terminal command.

      Encrypt a hard drive using Terminal –

      • Launch Terminal from Finder > Application > Utilities.
      • Type diskutil apfs list and hit Return. The Terminal produces a list of all APFS volumes and containers. Note down the APFS volume ID information.
      • To encrypt volume, type diskutil apfs encryptVolume /dev/apfs_volume_id and hit Return. Type the password for encryption when asked. Type again to confirm the password.
      • To monitor encryption progress, type diskutil apfs list and hit Return.

      Similarly, you can decrypt your encrypted Mac hard drive by using Terminal.

      Decrypt an APFS encrypted drive using Terminal –

      • Launch Terminal. Type diskutil apfs list and hit Return to know the APFS volume ID.
      • Type diskutil apfs unlockVolume /dev/apfs_volume_id -passphrase type_the_key, then hit Return to unlock the volume.
      • Type diskutil apfs decryptVolume /dev/apfs_volume_id and hit Return to decrypt the volume. Authenticate when prompted.
      • To monitor decryption progress, type diskutil apfs list and hit Return.

      For other drives, do the following –

      • Launch Terminal and type the code diskutil cs list and hit Return. The Terminal produces a core storage list in a hierarchy. Copy the alphanumeric code that is logical volume UUID, which is next to Logical Volume Group.
      • Type diskutil cs decryptVolume logical_volume_uuid -passphrase type_the_key and hit Return.

      But what if you delete few crucial files from an encrypted hard drive, or the drive itself turns corrupt. In such cases, you’ll need to find ways to recover your lost data.

      Recover Data from an Encrypted Mac Hard Drive

      Part 1: Recover Encrypted Mac Hard Drive using Time Machine

      Mac data loss can occur from an encrypted hard drive due to accidental deletion, formatting, or corruption. So, setting up a Time Machine backup hard drive is a must.

      Time Machine performs incremental backups of your encrypted Macintosh HD per the schedule. And in case of data loss, you can use Time Machine to restore the lost data to your Mac drive.

      Steps to recover encrypted Mac hard drive with Time Machine –

      • Ensure your Time Machine backup drive is connected to your Mac. Launch Time Machine from the Launchpad.
      • Find the deleted or lost files by using Up/Down arrows or Timeline. Select the required files and folders, then click Restore. The files will restore to their actual location.

      Part 2: Recover Encrypted Mac Hard Drive Data using a Mac Data Recovery Software

      What if you haven’t set up Time Machine on your Mac or the configured Time Machine backup drive has become corrupt? In such cases, only reliable data recovery software for Mac like Stellar Data Recovery Professional for Mac can help you recover data from an encrypted hard drive.

      • Install Stellar Data Recovery Professional for Mac. Launch it.
      • On the first screen, select what you want to recover. By default, Recover Everything option is selected. Click Next.
      launch stellar data recovery professional for mac
      • On the next screen, choose the Encrypted Volume. Enter the Password and click Continue.
      • Click Scan.
      enter password of the encrypted volume

      Notes

      If you fail to provide a passcode to unlock your encrypted hard drive, the software won’t proceed further to scan your encrypted drive.Once the drive is unlocked, re-select the drive, and you can either switch to Deep Scan or stick with the primary scan option at your convenience.
      • Once the scanning is completed, the software will list all the recoverable items. Preview the items.
      recover data from encrypted mac hdd using stellar data recovery professional for mac
      • If you are satisfied after the preview, select the files for recovery. Click Recover and choose a place to save recoverable files.

      Watch this video to learn how you can encrypt, decrypt, and recover data from an encrypted Mac hard drive.

      NoteIn case of a corrupt encrypted Mac hard drive, the software will perform RAW recovery on the physical drive. In such a scenario, the files names might look different. You can recover the desired files by previewing them one by one.

      raw recovery on Mac hdd

      What if the Decryption Password is Lost?

      If the decryption password is lost, the data on your encrypted Mac hard drive is lost forever. You won’t be able to retrieve it even with the help of a data recovery software. Therefore, keep the decryption key saved in a secure location to use when required.

      Conclusion

      Although macOS has made encrypting hard drives easy and convenient, one should be careful while doing it. A decryption key or password is required to access an encrypted device. Losing the decryption key can make the drive permanently inaccessible, and you may lose your data forever.

      Therefore, you keep the decryption key of the drive safely and within your reach.

      If you have the decryption key but still can’t access the data on the drive, you should use Stellar Data Recovery Professional for Mac to recover data from an encrypted Mac hard drive.

      As a final tip – Do not rely on one drive. Create backup copies on separate drives to avoid unexpected data losses.

      Read More

      A Guide to Solving Mac Hard Drive Problems

      A Comprehensive Guide to Mac Hard Drive Recovery

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      About The Author

      Vishal linkdin

      Vishal is a data recovery expert @Stellar. He addresses data loss scenarios on a Mac. He intends to help people solve their macOS problems. Besides, Vishal prefers to read about astronomy and autobiography, and his favorite is Steve Jobs - The man who thought different written by Karen Bluementhal.

      77 comments

      1. To do this, follow all the below steps carefully:

        1.First, open the Mac OS X Terminal utility and enter the below command:
        diskutil cs list
        This will display a hierarchical tree. Locate the long alphanumeric code next to the words “Logical Volume Group” (this code is known as “UUID”), and copy this code to the clipboard by highlighting it and then pressing Command-C from your keyboard.

        2. Run the below command to destroy the logical volume group, replacing “UUID” with the alphanumeric string from the first command.
        diskutil cs delete UUID
        When completed this will clear all the Mac volume and also allow it to be formatted and otherwise customized.

      2. How I can decrypt my external hard-drive so it can be re-partitioned again in the future?

      3. I have a Toshiba External Hard Drive formatted for Mac, but I encrypted it and DON’T REMEMBER THE PASSWORD, I have important information so I don’t want to loose it, what program can I use to unlock de Hard Drive without compromising my information?

        1. Hi Sue,

          Stellar Data Recovery for Mac supports files recovery of files from an encrypted hard drive however you must provide the password in order to unlock the drive so that the software can read and recover files from it. Read More: How to Recover Mac files from Encrypted Hard Disk Drive?.

          In your case, you have mentioned that you have forgotten the password. hence the software will not scan the disk since it is mandatory to unlock the disk. Hope it helps.

      4. Is there any way to decrypt the WD My Passport external hard drive without loosing the files? I tried decrypting the external drive using the Finder but the process is taking forever time, hence I stopped it and tried again but no use. I know I can use ‘diskutil cs delete’ to break the hard drive encryption but it will format the WD loosing all the files.

        1. Hi Gibbs, you are right, decrypting the WD external hard drive will result in data loss. I recommend you clone your hard drive using Stellar Drive Clone utility and then proceed with the decryption. Hope this helps!!!

      5. I was resizing my WD Passport external hard drive and accidentally deleted wrong partition. Shockingly, my data in the partition wasn’t backed up. How may I recover the deleted partition on Mac running OS X El Capitan 10.11.4?

        Regards Marc

      6. Hi Thomas,

        Yes Stellar Mac data recovery will salvage files removed due to decrypting the hard disk drive. Hope this help!!!!

      7. Hi Vishal,

        I downloaded Stellar phoenix Mac data recovery software to scan my WD hard drive which is encrypted. But I don’t find my WD hard drive getting listed on the left side of the software menu. What am I doing wrong? Please let me know.

        Justin

        1. Hi Justin,

          Don’t worry. You need to disconnect, reconnect the hard drive and unlock it with the password. Now launch the software and you will find the hard drive listed on the left pane of the software. Hope this helps.

          Thanks.

      8. I encrypted my 3TB Toshiba hard drive and it worked perfectly until yesterday. Disk Utility now doesn’t mount this external hard drive and all my files are inaccessible. I am using El Capitan 10.11.2 on MacBook Pro. Please help me recover files from this encrypted external hard drive.

        1. Hi Ricky,

          Go to this link and free download encrypted data recovery software for your Mac hard drives. Please mount the Toshiba external hard drive on Mac and launch the scan with the software. Remember you have to bypass the hard drive security by entering the password in order to unlock the drive. If you can’t unlock the drive due to mismatched or forgotten password then data recovery software will not be able to proceed the scan. Once scan is finished you can preview all recoverable files from encrypted Toshiba external hard disk drive.

          Regards
          Vishal

      9. Decryption on my MBP is stuck.its decrypting from last 24 hour.
        i have restarted twice or thrice but no change. Around 75% is done but its showing the msz that “estimating time remaining”.
        it was suggested by online Apple care support. because my system is over heating.
        what to do now?please suggest me.
        i am using 15 inch late 2012 mbp.

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