HI I have a hardrive that I've encrypted from the Mac desktop. I want to know if Apple has the encryption key stored. It is an external hardrive, not Macintosh HD but I'm pretty sure it used Firevault. Can someone please help?
Thanks!
Yosemite 10.10
iMac (27-inch, Late 2012), OS X Yosemite (10.10)
it depends:
if each time you plug the external drive:
No. You will need to know your password or recovery key.
OS X Yosemite: Encrypt the contents of your Mac with FileVault
WARNING: Don’t forget your recovery key. If you turn on FileVault and then forget your login password and cannot reset it, and you also forget your recovery key, you won’t be able to log in and your files and settings will be lost forever.
Nope no recovery Password or anything. Doesnt Yosemite give an option to store your encryption password with Apple When you encrypt?
If the volume is bootable and you encrypt it by activating FileVault, yes. Otherwise no.
I Encrypted it straight from my desktop by right clicking the drive while Firevault was activated.
I Have contacted Apple support and they said if it is firevault encrypted they have the password or else they do not.
CAn an you please tell me if I encrypt a drive on my desktop in OS X is it using Firevault? Yes or no.
THanks
To store the recovery key (not the password) with Apple, you would have to install OS X on the volume before encrypting it, then boot from it, turn on FileVault, and confirm when prompted. If you do anything else, the recovery key won't be sent to Apple.
Thanks great answer!
However now I am stuck with my entire life memories on an encrypted Hardrive...😢
I dont know what to do... If anyone has any suggestions I would love to hear them.
Positive suggestions please, don't tell me to erase it and there is no other way to retrieve it.
Apple said they will call me back in a couple days to see if they can do anything but I doubt it.
I take it that you have a disk that's already encrypted and the password is lost. Apple won't be able to help you. Your only hope is that the password is possible to guess, using whatever information you have about it. For example, you might remember that the password was a phrase consisting of dictionary words. If the data is valuable to you, a data-recovery consultant such as "Drive Savers" might be able to automate the process of trying guess the password, so that there might be some chance of cracking it in your lifetime. But those services are very expensive.
If you ever saved the password in the keychain of computer you still own, there might be a slim chance of recovering it that way.
Ya thats what I'm trying to do now is go through my keychains in time machine and see if I have it.
The reason my password Is not working, I've discovered, is because after I typed in what I wanted my password to be I hit that little stupid key symbol on the right.
After I hit the key, not realizing that it changed my password I hit encrypt.
Thank you so much for your help Linc.
I Appreciate it!
Does Apple Sotre Encryption Password for External HD?
