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bluesman409 Author

Level 1

8 points

Encryption

I decided to encrypt a couple of external hard drives. During the process, the computer (mid 2010 Mac Pro, HS 10.13.6) and drives inadvertently got shut down. When I rebooted, the externals asked for the passwords and mounted when given. When I right click the icons, the encryption option says "Encrypting "Back Up Drive". I opened some files stored in the drives and quite a few say "file unreadable or damaged..." and some photos are truncated showing only a portion of the photo. I've read a few sources which indicate that I'm seeing these things because the drives are still being encrypted and when finished the files should be back to normal. I'm just concerned that I didn't permanently damage these files when the system shut down during encrypting. Thanks!

Mac Pro, macOS High Sierra (10.13.6)

Posted on Nov 17, 2018 6:04 PM

Best reply

Grant Bennet-Alder

Level 10

127,729 points

Posted on Nov 17, 2018 6:43 PM

Encrypting a 1TeraByte drive can easily take four hours or more.

Rather than anguish over it now, wait until it is done and you can see where you really stand.

If you do not have a plan to make Backups, you need one. As your computer is hinting, ANY problem with an encrypted drive leaves nothing to be salvaged.

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Encryption

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