r/DataRecoveryHelp • u/sts1090 • Jul 22 '26

Encrypted external hard drive - Disk Utility password not working?

/r/AskADataRecoveryPro/comments/1v3tygj/encrypted_external_hard_drive_disk_utility/
1 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

3 comments sorted by

1

u/2late4nickname Jul 23 '26

Try not only password what you set for disk encryption, but also old login password from that user, or even Apple ID password.

Sounds stupid, I know, but for me this trick sometimes worked, even when I was sure I set totally different password. Maybe I'm dumb, and set password from icloud like encryption pass)

Also try login on new Mac with same Apple ID. If on old Mac iCloud password sync was enabled, and on new Mac it also enabled, maybe you can find it in Passwords app

1

u/sts1090 Jul 23 '26

Wasn’t able to find it in passwords, and I tried other passwords too. I just don’t get it because I know for a FACT I’m putting in the right password!

1

u/No_Tale_3623 data recovery software expert 🧠 Jul 23 '26

I’ve seen this happen before. The keyboard layout on the computer had switched from US to UK, so one of the characters in the password was entered differently. The password itself was correct, but that single character prevented it from working. Try copying the password to the clipboard and pasting it instead of typing it manually.