I forgot my macintosh hard drive's password!

I got a macbook pro with retina display late 2012 nearly a month ago and i encyripted the hard drive at first setup, now i totally forgot the password and the login screen asks me the password. What can i do right now? Any suggestions? I really dont care the data i have lots of time machine back ups, just wanna use my mac again.

Did you save the certificate information or have it stored by Apple? If so, use the certificate key for the access. If you had Apple store the cerificate for you, call them and answer the security questions and they will help.

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Macintosh hard drive gone + Black screen Help!

Hi
I have this problem where I always have to press option while my MacBook Pro boots up, then after it shows me the hard drive options, I have to choose that and it would load normally. For some reason , this happened after I unpartitioned my mac from windows 7. If I don't press option while it boots up, the screen will turn completely black. And when I try to boot it from the DVD, it will turn black and be in a state where you think it's turned off. I don't think it is because I can steal hear it trying to read the DVD.
My goal is to wipe out the data and make a clean reinstall action but its impossible if I can't start up from the DVD. I'm sure it's the DVD that came with it because I successfully done this before. Could it be that you can't do it twice? Well, I hope that's not the case because I really want to partition windows on it again. Oh, I forgot to mention that it won't let me repartition.
So, I try to boot from DVD and again, total black screen and noises. I've done extensive research and tried many things to get it to function properly but nothing helped! I'm sure I tried most of it. Pressing c, options, or restarting from system preferences. I even reset a million things. And if I try to boot it without pressing option and clicking Macintosh HD, then it would be totally black and some noises occur.
Since nothing seemed to work, I upgraded Snow leapord(don't even know if that would helped) and it turned out it was totally useless. It ended up getting rid of my Macintosh hard drive. I can't even go on it anymore. Please help!

Start with the procedures in this support article:
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2570
Ciao.

180 GB of my 639-GB Macintosh hard drive is used. 320 GB of my 498-GB Tie Capsule is used. Only one backup ("now") exists for the Time Capsule, which can no longer backup because of "insufficient space". How come? What is wrong?"

180 GB of my 639-GB Macintosh hard drive is used. 320 GB of my 498-GB Tie Capsule is used. Only one backup ("now") exists for the Time Capsule, which can no longer backup because of "insufficient space". How come? What is wrong?"

Thank you William for your most helpful response. I shall deal first with your three comments:
Not being tech savvy, I would not have been able to make that call myself but it sure makes sense.
I have updated my profiles as you suggest. Excellent tip.
This guidance is good. Being new to Apple Support Communities, I did not find the field a labeling and guidance to be clear, a point you make. Now I know, I shall do as you say and will use the small slim box as a header to the full message/question, which will place in the larger box below.
Secondly, I come to your question: Did anything change on your Mac recently, such as replacing the disk or main logic board?
The answer is “yes”. Two events have happened both of which concerned the Time Capsule:
The telephone company, with which I have access to the Internet and I have my email account, installed a new modum. After the technician left I had to try and get the Time Capsule and WiFi working again which ended with my having to call Apple for technical assistance. The Apple technician walked me through a number of procedural steps which effectively re-set up the Time Capsule.
Access to the Internet failed and the telephone company reset the modum. I had to call Apple again. This time the technician did not reset the Time Capsule but walked me through a number of steps tha included renaming the “site” (not the Time Capsule).
Another piece of information that may be relevant is that the MacBook Pro uses the Time Capsule for backup. Everything appears to be in order. When I enter the Time Capsule for this laptop I have backups going back for a long time.
Also, I do a weekly backup of the two computers onto another external hard drive using the Time Machine software. So I have another backup of both computers.

Macintosh Hard Drive Hidden after update

I installed the iTunes 7.4.1 update and the Compatibility Update for QuickTime 7.2. Then I restarted my computer and now my Macintosh Hard Drive is hidden- its not on my desktop and its not in the sidebar of a Finder window even though in the Finder preferences I have the checkboxes checked to show Hard disks in both places. When I try to access the drive by opening a Finder window and command-clicking the folder in the top center of the window, it shows the Macintosh HD grayed out. It also doesn't appear in the "User Name's" Computer level. My computer is running fine other than that. Any ideas?
Thanks a Million.

There's an active bug report on the problem of drives (not to mention the occasional folder) becoming invisible. I don't think the engineers yet have a handle on the problem. You are the first person I've heard of for whom the problem predicably recurs. Please send feedback:
http://www.apple.com/feedback/macosx.html/
Tell them exactly what you did before the problem appeared and what you have done since. Maybe your information will help solve the riddle. You may not hear back, but every little bit of extra data can help them figure it out.
Francine
Francine
Schwieder

How do i not have my photoshop linked to my macintosh hard drive because it slows down the program by using my hard drive space

how do i not have my photoshop linked to my macintosh hard drive because it slows down the program by using my hard drive space

Which version of mac os x and photoshop are you using?
How much free space is on your hard drive?
How much ram do you have?
Photoshop needs to use your hard drive for scratch space.
If you have more than one hard drive (not partition), you can assign photoshop's scratch disk to another hard drive.
Optimize performance | Photoshop CS4, CS5, CS6, CC

HT2491 how to show macintosh hard drive on the desktop

how to show macintosh hard drive on the desktop in apple macbook pro,n how can i install my canon scaner with printer on mac,i am new user,regards,dr.m.imran

Thank you for these directions. I just created a new user account and couldn't believe the hard drive was not viewable on the desktop. It seems by default the hard drive should always be viewable on the desktop. By having absolutely nothing on the desktop when making a new user I was freaking out thinking my Mac had a bug after the OS updates.
Thank you for the directions on how to show the hard drive on a new user's desktop.

Binned my Macintosh Hard Drive

I accidentally dragged my Macintosh Hard Drive from the left area of my finder and now I have no idea how to get it back? any ideas?

Choose Preferences from the Finder menu, click on the Sidebar tab, and check the box for it.
(47568)

I want to format my macintosh hard drive

To format macbook pro hard drive, we need to press power button + option button when startup but when i do so I dont see recovery hd coming. instead i only see macintosh hd. im using OS X Yosemite 10.10.1

BalaTheBalaji wrote:
I have tried that too. with command + r you can't erase hard drive or format. Only you can recover account
You should be able to erase the Macintosh HD from the Yosemite Recovery HD (Command+R). Should get you into the OS X Utilities Menu. With Disk Utility as one of fhe 4 options.
Inside Disk Utility, you should see 2 Macintosh HD entries. The 2nd (or indented) one is the one you should be able to select and erase.
If possible, a screen shot of what you are seeing when you select the 2nd Macintosh HD entry in Disk Utility might help us.

DELETING FILES PERMAMNENTLY FROM HARD DRIVE AND PASSWORD PROTECTING

DOES ANYONE KNOW HOW TO PERMANENTLY DELETE FILES FROM THE HARD DRIVE? ALSO, WHAT ARE THE STEPS TO ADD A PASSWORD TO A FOLDER?
THANKS!

#1) Please check your caps lock key which seems to be on and many perceive as shouting your questions.
#2) Use secure empty trash when you want secure deleting.
#3) There isn't a folder password feature. There's a utility which will let you hide folders with a password, but that is easily circumvented. Then there's making password protected, encrypted image files. The second is very secure but it isn't a folder, it appears as a new volume on your desktop.

Storing movies on external hard drive with password preotection?

After having an external hard drive stolen from our home last summer I'm now obsessive about all of my media being password protected. At the same time our Movies folder is now 276GB in size and I am running out of space on our iMac. Is there any way to store the videos on a password protected external hard drive (and is there a recommendation on a specific model)? The only thing I have seen out there for password protecting an external drive for a mac is truecrypt, and that doesn't seem to allow for accessing files from iMovie. Any suggestions are appreciated.

telebump wrote:
... Is there any way to store the videos on a password protected external hard drive ...
• use Apps/Disk Utility/ to create a .dmg of huge size ...
• you are asked to use a pw
• 'mount' that dmg and use it as your ext. folder/hardrive
for using iM, you have to mount und unlock that dmg first ...
no need for special hardware

Replaced Hard Drive, Now Password is Incorrect

I upgraded my hard drive from a 500 GB hard drive to a 1TB hard drive in my MacBook Pro, I reinstalled Lion and restored the data from the other hard drive. Now when I try to login to my account, it's as though my password is incorrect. I'm certain it's correct.
How do I use my Apple ID to reset my password?
How do I access my account?

This assumes you are booting up from a system disc...
"Mac OS X v10.6 or later: Choose Password Reset from the Utilities menu."
Here are a couple of other approaches...

Time Capsule on an external hard drive and password reset

Folks, I have a problem, and am hoping someone samrter (yes, intentional spelling mistake) than me can help. I've used an external USB drive as my time capsule, which has worked for me without a hitch for a couple of years.
I've just recently upgraded my MBP to Mountain Lion, and had noticed that everything was VERY slow. So, as a result I decided to reinstall ML by wiping my MBP hard drive clean, and doing a fresh install, which resulted in a very responsive OS.
Now the problem: when I went to restore my MacBook Pro from my TC on my USB drive, I was prompted for a password, which I provided, and have met with no success, then I ended up trying EVERY password that I could think of, and NONE of them worked! So, my question is this: Is there a way to retrieve/reset the password on my external USB Time Capsule?
Thanks in advance for any bit of wisdom
Mike.

Mike022465 wrote:
I tried restoring via Migration Assistant, and I was prompted for a password.
Very odd. Are you sure the drive wasn't encrypted? That's the only thing I can think of that would cause a password prompt there.
Can you post a screenshot of the prompt? That might provide a clue.
Here's the prompt for an encrypted drive:
Sorry, wasn't trying to come across as a weiner....
No problem -- just hard to figure out what's going on.

HD1 (Hard drive) BOIS Password questions?

Ok. I've set a password for my hard drive in the BIOS. My machine specs are in my sig'.
Can anyone explain how setting this password will protect my drive from malicious use and is it worth using on a non Self-Encrypting Drive?
Secondly, after setting this password my machine will ask for it only if I shut down the machine. However if I do a 'Restart' from Windows it will bypass it. Why?, if it's there as a security measure?
So basically, is it worth using?. How does it work to stop access to my drive, as a security measure? And, why does my machine 'not' ask for the password when doing a 'Restart'?
Thanks for any answers on this.
T410(2537) -- i7 620M - Intel HD GPU (1440 x 900) - 8GB RAM - 128GB Crucial M4 SSD - 250GB Hitachi HDD - Windows 7 & 8 Pro

I want to correct something in hausman's post. If you want to clear the password on another T410 or similar, you simply insert the drive on that machine in either the main bay or the ultrabay and boot into the BIOS. You can then simply remove the password. (You need to know the PW to remove it)

Reset macintosh hard drive while it is partitioned?

I was wondering if it was safe to reset the Mac hard drive while it is bootcamped/partitioned. Also what would happen to the partition part?

Timmyboy1992 wrote:
I was wondering if it was safe to reset the Mac hard drive while it is bootcamped/partitioned. Also what would happen to the partition part?
You can reinstall OS X over itself into the Macintosh HD partition to fix a issue, leaving most of your programs and files alone.
See #8 Reinstall Just OS X here: Step by Step to fix your Mac
You can erase the Macintosh HD partition; OS X, all programs and files gone; then install OS X again fresh into it.
You can erase the ENTIRE drive, this will delete ALL partitions on the drive including Macintosh HD and BootCamp partitions.
See #20: Erase and Install OS X: Step by Step to fix your Mac
Selecting just one partiton to affect change on doesn't affect the other partitions on the drive.
You do have to be extremely careful what you select in Disk Utility on the left side before you go clicking Apply.
The indented names on the left are partitions on the main drive at the top, select the main drive and it affects everything on it.
In 10.6 it's rather easy to make a mistake and erase the entire drive from the 10.6 installer disks
In 10.7 and 10.8 it's rather hard to erase the entire drive, but possible.
You can't affect change to any partition while booted from it. You have to be booted from another medium or partition.

Macintosh Hard Drive Corrupt

Hey,
I've recently installed OS X Lion and my computer has been running a bit slow. I used Disk Utility to scan the HD and then received the error message:
"The volume Macintosh HD was found corrupt and needs to be repaired."
"Error: This disk needs to be repaired... then use Disk Utility to repair this disk."
Unfortuntly i'm no expert when it comes to this, can anyone help with directions? If I use the original CD which came with this laptop, will I lose everything??
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!

Hi "copernicus",
I used the original CD which came with my Laptop to boot up the laptop.
It goes through questions, which basically make you think it's going to wipe everything from your laptop. Eventually you get a screen alike your homescreen which allows you to open Disk Utility from the Apple bar at the top... You can then run Disk Repair on your own hard drive to repair any faults.
After this was completed my laptop ran a little slow for an hour or two while Spotlight re-indexed the hard drive. After this it was back to normal and running quite smoothly.
Sorry I can't be more specific on the disk part, I'm offshore & don't have my Mac with me.

I forgot my macintosh hard drive's password!

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