How to remove encryption of HFS+ External Volume_2

Question

How to remove encryption of HFS+ External Volume_2

I have an 18TB HDD that I chose to encrypt using diskutil commands.

It only has 3.5TB free space remaining. I am able to read the contents as I know the password.

It appears that Apple has kept the diskutil commands that allow us to encrypt an HFS+ volume but deprecated commands that allow us to un-encrypt or "revert" that volume.

What is the newest version of macOS that allows us to run diskutil cs revert on an HFS+ volume?

One method would be to diskutil convert to APFS and then remove the encryption, but there isn't enough space on the volume to do so. I also don't have a spare $400 to buy an equal sized HDD to transfer the data to.

diskutil info disk4                               
   Device Identifier:         disk4
   Device Node:               /dev/disk4
   Whole:                     Yes
   Part of Whole:             disk4
   Device / Media Name:       WDC WD181KFGX-68AFPN0

   Volume Name:               Not applicable (no file system)
   Mounted:                   Not applicable (no file system)
   File System:               None

   Content (IOContent):       GUID_partition_scheme
   OS Can Be Installed:       No
   Media Type:                Generic
   Protocol:                  USB
   SMART Status:              Not Supported

   Disk Size:                 18.0 TB (18000207937536 Bytes) (exactly 35156656128 512-Byte-Units)
   Device Block Size:         512 Bytes

   Media OS Use Only:         No
   Media Read-Only:           No
   Volume Read-Only:          Not applicable (no file system)

   Device Location:           External
   Removable Media:           Fixed

   Solid State:               No
   Virtual:                   No

22:06:23.553 at iMac191 ~ diskutil info disk7
   Device Identifier:         disk7
   Device Node:               /dev/disk7
   Whole:                     Yes
   Part of Whole:             disk7
   Device / Media Name:       WDC WD181KFGX-68AFPN0

   Volume Name:               PlexMedia_1
   Mounted:                   Yes
   Mount Point:               /Volumes/PlexMedia_1

   Content (IOContent):       Apple_HFS
   File System Personality:   Journaled HFS+
   Type (Bundle):             hfs
   Name (User Visible):       Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
   Journal:                   Journal size 524288 KB at offset 0x4190000
   Owners:                    Enabled

   OS Can Be Installed:       Yes
   Booter Disk:               disk4s3
   Media Type:                Generic
   Protocol:                  USB
   SMART Status:              Not Supported
   Volume UUID:               4A4FEA5A-E11E-3481-9C9A-B5162A588954
   Disk / Partition UUID:     3AE5D9ED-9930-4207-82B1-2D912E3B94E6

   Disk Size:                 18.0 TB (17999511638016 Bytes) (exactly 35155296168 512-Byte-Units)
   Device Block Size:         512 Bytes

   Volume Total Space:        18.0 TB (17999511617536 Bytes) (exactly 35155296128 512-Byte-Units)
   Volume Used Space:         14.5 TB (14499716104192 Bytes) (exactly 28319758016 512-Byte-Units) (80.6%)
   Volume Free Space:         3.5 TB (3499795513344 Bytes) (exactly 6835538112 512-Byte-Units) (19.4%)
   Allocation Block Size:     32768 Bytes

   Media OS Use Only:         No
   Media Read-Only:           No
   Volume Read-Only:          No

   Device Location:           External
   Removable Media:           Fixed

   Solid State:               No
   Virtual:                   Yes

   This disk is a Core Storage Logical Volume (LV).  Core Storage Information:
   LV UUID:                   3AE5D9ED-9930-4207-82B1-2D912E3B94E6
   LVF UUID:                  650EA5C9-56B9-4220-A956-19338567C05E
   LVG UUID:                  4AD9490F-9214-4443-BCA5-B1899D46E838
   PV UUID (disk):            620D5ED2-290F-44E6-ACE9-91EEF790F0CF (disk4s2)
   Fusion Drive:              No
   Encrypted:                 Yes

diskutil cs info /Volumes/PlexMedia_1             
Core Storage Properties:
   Role:                       Logical Volume (LV)
   UUID:                       3AE5D9ED-9930-4207-82B1-2D912E3B94E6
   Parent LVF UUID:            650EA5C9-56B9-4220-A956-19338567C05E
   Parent LVG UUID:            4AD9490F-9214-4443-BCA5-B1899D46E838
   Device Identifier:          disk7
   LV Status:                  Online
   Conversion State:           Complete
   LV Conversion Progress:     100%
   Content Hint:               Apple_HFS
   LV Name:                    PlexMedia_1
   Volume Name:                PlexMedia_1
   LV Size:                    17999511638016 B

iMac 27″

Posted on Oct 21, 2023 8:19 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

johnnyjackhammer Author

Level 1

78 points

Oct 21, 2023 8:34 PM in response to johnnyjackhammer

Can't do it from diskutil, can't do it from Disk Utility.app but you can from Finder?!

What the... just spent half a day trying to figure this out with Apple tools meant to manage storage media, and it's in the Finder. Didn't find this in Apple Discussions. Did find it on StackExchange.

Is this noted anywhere in Apple literature?

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Answer 2

etresoft

Level 9

51,724 points

Oct 22, 2023 6:06 AM in response to johnnyjackhammer

johnnyjackhammer wrote:

Is this noted anywhere in Apple literature?

It's always been a standard operation. See Encrypt disks or memory cards to protect your Mac information - Apple Support. This should be the High Sierra version. I chose that one because it doesn't mention APFS. This functionality has existed since FileVault.

However, I wouldn't recommend making a major change like that to a hard drive with 14 TB of data. That's a lot of data to lose. If you can afford a single 18 TB hard drive, then you can afford two. Either that, or you can afford to lose 18 TB of data.

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Answer 3

Oct 21, 2023 8:29 PM in response to johnnyjackhammer

Hi!

Here to help!

I understand you want to convert Journaled extended to Apple File System.

The problem is the encryption; keep in mind that those are different formats.

The best and fastest way is to (re-)format the disk.

This comes with data loss, obviously. This is also 32 bit vs 64 bit issue.

I see how money can be an issue. An idea is to search for HDD instead of SSD for static data. This may be cheaper and wiser.

But HFS, and HFS+ (journaled extended) is depricated in itself and certain commands, software and apps may not be eligible to convert (depending on multiplefators, like Rosetta, for one).

please refer to

Terminal > $ man diskutil

Kind regards,

RRD

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Answer 4

Oct 22, 2023 10:43 AM in response to etresoft

Thanks for the link. I guess I was expecting information to be inside the man page for `diskutil` in place of the deprecated commands that were removed, and alongside the commands I used to encrypt the volume in the first place. Silly me :)

etresoft wrote:

However, I wouldn't recommend making a major change like that to a hard drive with 14 TB of data. That's a lot of data to lose. If you can afford a single 18 TB hard drive, then you can afford two. Either that, or you can afford to lose 18 TB of data.

I don't think there is a way to stop decrypting a volume that has being decrypted. Again, nothing I have seen in the Apple literature.

The first 3% went pretty fast, was done in an hour. The next 1% (at 4% now) has taken 12 hours. Looks like this could be a month long command execution. The data is not critical, but we would miss it.

Is it possible to copy from a HDD, that is being decrypted, to another HDD? I imagine so.

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Answer 5

Oct 22, 2023 11:18 AM in response to johnnyjackhammer

Decryption necessarily takes a while.

HDDs are somewhat more likely to show errors during heavy I/O activities such as a RAID rebuild, or decrypting everything, too. Copying during decryption adds to any existing I/O saturation, and I'm not entirely certain the data in the copy would be consistent, depending on where the copy operation and the decryption operation crossed.

Given you undoubtedly have a backup of any important data, either let the decryption run, or restore the backup in lieu of performing that copy of a decrypting HDD.

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Answer 6

etresoft

Level 9

51,724 points

Oct 22, 2023 11:25 AM in response to johnnyjackhammer

johnnyjackhammer wrote:

I guess I was expecting information to be inside the man page for `diskutil` in place of the deprecated commands that were removed, and alongside the commands I used to encrypt the volume in the first place.

The old Core Storage stuff was a hot mess. The only conversions that are supported now are conversions to APFS.

I don't think there is a way to stop decrypting a volume that has being decrypted. Again, nothing I have seen in the Apple literature.

The first 3% went pretty fast, was done in an hour. The next 1% (at 4% now) has taken 12 hours. Looks like this could be a month long command execution. The data is not critical, but we would miss it.

Is it possible to copy from a HDD, that is being decrypted, to another HDD? I imagine so.

You should be able to copy the data from the drive. There is a good chance it will be APFS when it's done, or a paperweight. If you do value the data, or just don't want to have it sit there churning for however long, I recommend copying it to another, already APFS-encrypted drive, and then wiping the old one. Reformat it as APFS-encrypted and copy the data back over to get 2 copies.

I don't see any reason to have un-encrypted data. My primary concern is theft. If you are worried about passwords, you can always add a hint.

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Answer 7

Oct 22, 2023 11:26 AM in response to MrHoffman

Yes... I am not thrilled about what I got myself into. It's not critical data but I also don't want to erase it.

I did read someone had success starting up in Recovery Mode and running a copy command in Terminal after unlocking the volume. I guess Recovery Mode deactivates the decryption process. Not looking forward to the 24 hour copy but it is what it is.

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Answer 8

Oct 22, 2023 11:31 AM in response to etresoft

@etresoft

I guess this means critics have accepted APFS for spinning disks. I remember there being an argument that we should all format external HDDs as HFS+ and only use APFS for SSD and startup volumes.

Has everyone embraced APFS now for their mass storage devices?

Calculated that it may take 45 days at the current rate

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Answer 9

etresoft

Level 9

51,724 points

Oct 22, 2023 12:58 PM in response to johnnyjackhammer

johnnyjackhammer wrote:

I guess this means critics have accepted APFS for spinning disks. I remember there being an argument that we should all format external HDDs as HFS+ and only use APFS for SSD and startup volumes.

Has everyone embraced APFS now for their mass storage devices?

I don't know about "critics" or "everyone". Apple certainly has, and that pretty much settles the matter.

APFS is stable and not too much slower on mechanical drives. You are more likely to find one of those "shingled" HDDs that will run horribly slow regardless of format, than you are to notice any relative slowness with APFS. And APFS does have some neat tricks. Maybe don't use Unicode for any file or folder names on APFS though. Stick with alphanumerics on that.

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Answer 10

Oct 22, 2023 11:31 AM in response to johnnyjackhammer

Hi!

Here to help

Unlocking volume is much the same as deactivate encryption

So the person that you read about, probably just turned it off.

Kind regards

RRD

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How to remove encryption of HFS+ External Volume_2

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