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User profile for user: Alibaba89
Alibaba89 Author
User level: Level 1
10 points

APFS encryption password

Dear community,


The other day I tried updating my MacBook Pro 2015 from Catalina to Big Sur.

The update/installation however crashed, which resulted in me pressing the power button to switch it off.

Ever since I couldn’t access the computer on a normal basis, meaning whenever I started it, i typed my user password, it got accepted but then the laptop went into some macOS-update assistant, telling me something went wrong etc.


After this my laptop couldn’t show me my files.

So I tried internet reboot and all, but still no luck.

Only solution so far has been to have an boot-firmware on a usb.


So now I’m running OS Catalina on a usb, and have tried accessing DiskUtilities, in which I see my “Macintosh HD” and “Macintosh HD - data”.

The Macintosh HD data is greyed out, and it says that it’s passive and also encrypted.

To my knowledge I haven’t encrypted it.

When hitting the make active, it asks for a password, which I keep typing in, however to no luck.

It even shows a hint to my password, which tells me exactly what it is, but it still won’t give me access.


Is that normal?

Other than that, is there any other solution for me to gain access to my files?

MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 10.15

Posted on Jan 22, 2021 6:14 AM

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User profile for user: HWTech
HWTech
User level: Level 9
60,272 points

Posted on Jan 22, 2021 8:28 PM

Access your files from a backup you made before attempting to upgrade macOS.


Big Sur makes a lot of under the hood changes to the drive layout with many new volumes. Much of this is now hidden from view even when using command line utilities that usually give you access to everything. If you did not have Filevault enabled, then I'm guessing this conversion process got messed up and is incomplete. There may be no way for you to access your files since I know data recovery utilities cannot even access a half encrypted drive.


If the drive is Filevaulted, then perhaps the drive gets unlocked, but is unable to mount in a read + write mode. Sometimes you can manually mount the unlocked volume in read-only mode using the command line.


Your files should be on the "Macintosh HD - Data" volume.


Try running Disk Utility First Aid on the hidden Container. Within Disk Utility you need to click on "View" and select "Show All Devices" so that the hidden Container appears on the left pane of Disk Utility. Even if First Aid shows everything is "Ok" click on "Show Details" and look for any unfixed errors or warnings. If you see unfixed errors, then they may be preventing the file system from mounting properly. This requires for the whole drive to be erased since there are no third party utilities available to repair an APFS volume since Apple has not released the necessary documentation.


Since you have an external macOS drive you can try using a data recovery utility such as PhotoRec, TestDisk, or Data Rescue. Be careful if any of these utilities ask to modify the volume because it may make a change that will make it harder for a professional data recovery service to access the data.


If you don't have a backup, then you may need to contact a professional data recovery service such as Drive Savers or Ontrack. Both vendors provide free estimates and both are recommended by Apple and other OEMs.


Make sure to always have frequent and regular backups. It is impossible to recover accidentally deleted data from an SSD plus an SSD can fail at any time without any warning signs.

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply
User profile for user: HWTech
HWTech
User level: Level 9
60,272 points

Jan 22, 2021 8:28 PM in response to Alibaba89

Access your files from a backup you made before attempting to upgrade macOS.


Big Sur makes a lot of under the hood changes to the drive layout with many new volumes. Much of this is now hidden from view even when using command line utilities that usually give you access to everything. If you did not have Filevault enabled, then I'm guessing this conversion process got messed up and is incomplete. There may be no way for you to access your files since I know data recovery utilities cannot even access a half encrypted drive.


If the drive is Filevaulted, then perhaps the drive gets unlocked, but is unable to mount in a read + write mode. Sometimes you can manually mount the unlocked volume in read-only mode using the command line.


Your files should be on the "Macintosh HD - Data" volume.


Try running Disk Utility First Aid on the hidden Container. Within Disk Utility you need to click on "View" and select "Show All Devices" so that the hidden Container appears on the left pane of Disk Utility. Even if First Aid shows everything is "Ok" click on "Show Details" and look for any unfixed errors or warnings. If you see unfixed errors, then they may be preventing the file system from mounting properly. This requires for the whole drive to be erased since there are no third party utilities available to repair an APFS volume since Apple has not released the necessary documentation.


Since you have an external macOS drive you can try using a data recovery utility such as PhotoRec, TestDisk, or Data Rescue. Be careful if any of these utilities ask to modify the volume because it may make a change that will make it harder for a professional data recovery service to access the data.


If you don't have a backup, then you may need to contact a professional data recovery service such as Drive Savers or Ontrack. Both vendors provide free estimates and both are recommended by Apple and other OEMs.


Make sure to always have frequent and regular backups. It is impossible to recover accidentally deleted data from an SSD plus an SSD can fail at any time without any warning signs.

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APFS encryption password

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