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User profile for user: Steve Davidson
Steve Davidson Author
User level: Level 3
560 points

How to remove encryption of HFS+ External Volume

I've got an external HFS+ formatted drive that I encrypted some time ago, but want to make it a network attached device, which requires that it not be encrypted. And I want to preserve its contents.


Under previous versions of the Macintosh operating system, simply cntl-clicking on the drive icon revealed a Decrypt contextual menu item. That seems to be gone. Moreover, I can't find anything in the man pages for the diskutil (Terminal) command that would decrypt HFS+ (only APFS).


Does anyone have a suggestion how I might proceed?

Posted on Aug 23, 2021 5:17 PM

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User profile for user: D.I. Johnson
D.I. Johnson
User level: Level 7
24,923 points

Posted on Aug 23, 2021 6:35 PM

You will have to locate your encryption password or your encryption key. Otherwise the data on that drive will be going away.


Please see this support document for info regarding disk encryption on the Mac –

Encrypt Mac data with FileVault - Apple Support:

https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/encrypt-mac-data-with-filevault-mh11785/mac


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User profile for user: D.I. Johnson
D.I. Johnson
User level: Level 7
24,923 points

Aug 23, 2021 6:35 PM in response to Steve Davidson

You will have to locate your encryption password or your encryption key. Otherwise the data on that drive will be going away.


Please see this support document for info regarding disk encryption on the Mac –

Encrypt Mac data with FileVault - Apple Support:

https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/encrypt-mac-data-with-filevault-mh11785/mac


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How to remove encryption of HFS+ External Volume

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