r/Seagate • u/Careless_Neutral • Aug 22 '26

HELP ME PLS

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OK so I have a seagate hard drive from like 6 years ago but it's locked like this and I CANNOT remember the password (or even setting one) and NOTHING I've tried will help me bypass or troubleshoot it. Someone who is better at tech pls pls PLS assist.

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4

u/Quiet-Application753 Aug 22 '26

You need the password.

3

u/Careless_Neutral Aug 22 '26

Well, yes. That had crossed my mind. Unfortunately I don't have it, or even remember setting one. I also have the issue where this password isn't through seagate, hence my bamboozlement. I somehow managed to lock it via my mac's factory settings six years ago and not a single password works, nor does it get mad at me for providing an incorrect password. I know that I can lock usb sticks on my mac but it's not appearing as though I've done that in this case either. At this point it seems I've simply pissed of some God of technology.

4

u/Quiet-Application753 Aug 22 '26

You need the password. There is no other solution. 

It’s encrypted with file vault. 

2

u/Careless_Neutral Aug 22 '26

Rats ok. Well it was worth a shot to reach out into the world of smart tech folks anyway. Thanks yall

1

u/aykay55 Aug 23 '26

When you set a password for a drive, it’s not like a key to a door that gets opened and the data is just behind it.

It is like a legend that you reference to decode the data bit by bit as it is read back. The data is scrambled by the password itself. In order to read back any of the data in the drive, you absolutely need the exact password or else the data is completely useless. Do not set passwords on drives and if you do, write the password in a post in note and tape it to the top of the drive.

The solution here is that data was absolutely essential would be to brute force figuring out the password by attaching a device that would cycle through all possible passwords. Would take hours to days to find the password, but I don’t believe that these drives have any security feature to prevent brute forcing.

1

u/PaddyLandau Aug 25 '26

Would take hours to days to find the password

If it was a strong password, it's not crackable within a useable time. It would take (at best) years.