Password Protected External hard drive

I have a password protected external hard drive that I want to format so I can give it to a friend. When you format the drive does the password protection also get erased? Is there anything essential that I need to know before doing this? Thanks for your help!

Welcome to Apple Discussions!
If it's a WD MyBook, I'm not sure. I formatted and partitioned a MyBook for a friend, but was never able to get rid of the password protection so we just left it. It may be possible to do it, but I don't know how. Definitely check it out, and if the password is still required, be sure to pass it on to your friend.
Good luck!

Similar Messages

  • Password Protect external hard drive, it hasn't worked, why?

    Hi, I've surfed around and read how to password protect an external hard drive and I encrypted it, etc as told.
    However, and this will likely show my ignorance but isn't that the point of asking a question...
    The thing is, it's made the disk image that requires a password, but the hard drive can be ejected and put in and accessed without a password. The disk image is protected, permanently there (so maybe now it's taking up space on my hard drive, and the actual external hard drive is the same as it ever was and can be accessed without any password.
    Is there something I've done wrong, or something I'm not understanding about the concept?
    Thanks in advance.
    Message was edited by: NeanderCuz

    Hi-
    Welcome to Discussions!
    Double clicking the disk image should respond with a password request.
    Does yours work that way?
    If so, you didn't do anything wrong, as far as the encrypted disk image goes.
    That's about all that you can do.
    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1578
    To encrypt the entire drive and make it inaccessible without password, this might be what you want:
    http://www.truecrypt.org/

  • Checking I still have a password protected external hard drive

    I recently got a new mac (went from a 2009 Lion imac to a 2012 Mavericks imac) and i used time machine to do i (time machine is also encrypted/passworded) All is well.
    I use an external 2TB hard drive to store data on and i had set this drive up on the 2009 imac formatted with a password which is saved on my keychain.
    When i upgraded everything transfered ok but the time machine drive asked for password, i entered it and again no issues. The 2TB drive however (i turn it off when not in use) didnt ask for a password at all, it works fine but it no longer requires a password?
    The other issue i had recently was the fact that randomly when turning the drive on it DID as for the password, which when i entered it... it was wrong? even though it is entered correctly 100%.  I then turned the drive off and on again and boom it works, without asking for a password.
    So i need to know if its password protected or not! how?

    i formatted the hard drive and did it in disk utility, which means a full day or so of formatting and rebacking up, not really viable.

  • Password protecting external hard drive

    Hi all,
    I have a western digital 500gb usb 2.0, and was wondering if there is a way that you can make it require a password for opening. I do not want to make alias' and ghost files etc. just want to know if there is a way of making it simply, password or no access.
    Cheers!

    Use Disk Utility to create a secure disk image on the external drive, and store your data in that. The drive will mount, but to get to the data in the encrypted disk image file on the drive you would need the password. (Note that if you lose the password, the data are gone forever!)
    To learn how to create a secure disk image, open Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility, click on Help menu > DU Help, and search for "secure disk image".
    Hope this helps...

  • How to password protect external hard disk drives

    Hi All,
    I have purchased and external USB port hard disk. The problem with it is anyone just plug it to thier computers USB port and use it as we use our windows explorer to browse the filesystem. However whenever I plug to my computers USB port it should prompt me for a password and once authenticated it should allow me to browse the filesystem of my external hard disk. How can I achieve this using java ?
    Thanks & Regards,
    Kumar.

    If you really want this to work properly, you will have to write a DLL for Windows that will intercept the appropriate filesystem call and prompt you for a password. Otherwise, another option would be:
    Create a standalone Java application that will read/write from the hard drive
    Use Java Cryptography extension for all read/writes to the hard drive (encrypt onto hard drive, decrypt into memory or internal hard drive)
    Have your sign-on required to use the Java application (and hence, decrypt the contents of the drive)
    Use passphrase-based symmetric encryption so that the password can be the actual key for the encryption/decryption (or if you want, have that key unlock a larger symmetric key also encrypted on the drive)- Saish
    "My karma ran over your dogma." - Anon

  • Is there any way to password protect a hard drive?

    What I would like is that if you connect a hard drive, it cannot be opened or accessed or have the content visible without putting in a password. Is this possible?
    Thanks very much.

    Thanks. I'm leery of encrypting video files, especially segmented ones. Perhaps I shouldn't be.
    Does the drive have to re-encrypt each time it's closed?
    Thanks again.

  • 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

  • External hard drive authorization

    I recently moved all my music onto my external hard drive and attempted to play my music on iTunes from there. Some of my purchased stuff was fine and played/synced onto my iPod. Some albums, however, didn't sync and when I went to play them, I had to authorize my own computer to do so...again. I feel like I shouldn't have to authorize my computer twice in order to play the music I BOUGHT instead of stealing off the internet, and I'm annoyed. Also, is there some way to deauthorize someone else's computer from my iTunes? My roomate no longer needs access to my iTunes and I want to deauthorize her without messing with her computer. Does anyone have any advice?

    Did you previously password protect the hard drive? You can adjust user permissions on the mac by plugging the external hard drive in and opening finder. "right click" on the hard drive in finder and select Get Info. Now find "SHARING & Permissions" at the bottom of the get info window you just opened and make sure all the permissions say read & write. And press the little lock on the bottom right hand corner and make sure it's unlocked. Not sure if this will help but it's worth a shot.....

  • Why can't iTunes play music from read-only external hard drive?

    I have a write-protected external hard-drive which I keep all of my iTunes media on. iTunes recognizes all of the files, including the metadata on the id3 tags, and can find the files in Windows Explorer. However, it cannot play the files while the drive remains write-protected. Is there a work around for this as I would prefer to keep the hard-drive protected? Why does iTunes require write-access to play songs? Other media players have no problem playing from my read-only external hard-drive. Thanks for any help

    Welcome to the Apple Community.
    When you say you can't play through both devices at the same time, what happens when you try, are you able to select multiple speakers, do they deselect themselves, do you not get the option or does it just not work when you select multiple speakers.

  • I can't access password protection manager on my External Hard Drive to unlock it

    I can't access password protection manager on my External Hard Drive to unlock it , its kind of infected by a virus I guess and it is not bring me the password protection manage screen to enter password and access my data...
    Solved!
    Go to Solution.

    Hi vahid22! Please provide the model number (usually on the bottom of the unit) of your Sony External Hard Drive. Thank you!

  • Can't access Password Protection Manager on my External Hard Drive to unlock it

    I can't access password protection manager on my External Hard Drive to unlock it , I got updated antivirus and I always use safely remove to remove the hard drive. I see the UNLOCK APP Drive, and the Public Area, but when I run the "Password Protection Manager.exe" file at UNLOCK APP Drive, the bar will just be fulfilled by approximately 60% by showing "Loading...", then it stops for many seconds, and it starts to run the Installation file (PasswordProtectionManagerSetup_F.exe) which will delete all unlocked files if I accept it to install.
    2 TB External Hard Drive Model HD-E2
    Model No.: OAW1AGK370300BF
    201307
    Please let me know how I can access my protected files (the locked drive).

    Hi vahid22! Please provide the model number (usually on the bottom of the unit) of your Sony External Hard Drive. Thank you!

  • Hey guys, how can i password protect my files in external hard drive? I want to access those files both from mac and windows PC!

    Hey guys, how can i password protect my files in external hard drive? I want to access those files both from mac and windows PC!

    If you want a cross-platform solution that doesn't require the use of third-party software, use an external drive with hardware encryption. The device will have either a physical key or a numeric keypad. I don't have a specific recommendation.

  • Password Protecting An External Hard Drive.

    I am running 10.6.2 on my Macbook Pro 2.33 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo.
    I've just used Super Duper to back up and make a bootable copy of my Macbook Pro's internal hard drive. My question is can I password protect this new external hard drive, and it if it password protected, will I still be able to boot up from it should anything go wrong with the internal hard drive?
    If the answer is yes to both questions, then I would very much appreciate some tips on how to go about this.
    Many thanks in advance.

    there are no built in tools for that. but you can turn on filevault on your home directory and encrypt your home folder. that's enough for most people as there really isn't any sensitive data outside your home directory. then of course the home directory on the clone will be just as protected.
    if you want full disk encryption you need to use 3rd party tools like TrueCrypt or PGP encryption. I'm not familiar with them and don't know if they allow you to boot from encrypted drives.

  • Help- how to password protect an external hard drive?

    I'm just stuck. There must be a way to encrypt or password protect an external hard drive. No?

    The easiest way is to make an encrypted disk image of the folder contents with Disk Utility. Go to Disk Utility's File menu -> New -> Disk Image from Folder. There you can pick an encrypted disk image. Once you have made that image, delete the folder that it came from and leave the image behind. Mind you, there is always the risk you might lock yourself out permanently from that data if the image becomes corrupted. You are safer keeping the external hard disk in a physically safe place when not in use.

  • Password protection for external hard drive

    is anyone aware of a good, reliable program which allows you to protect data on your external hard drive with a password?

    Actually, there's really no reason to make the disk image the size of the whole hard drive. It would make it convenient in a way, since the disk image would have plenty of room on it, but it would also make backups a major pain in the arse, since one minor change to one file inside the image file means the whole thing has to get backed up. If you've got a 150 GB drive, that means a change to a 4 k file requires that you back up 150 GB. (And where do you back up several incremental backups of a 150 GB file to, anyway?)
    What I would recommend is to use many smaller disk images. For example, if you've got 10 projects on the drive, each taking up, say, 150 MB, then you could make 10 disk images that are 200 MB (or more or less, depending on anticipated growth of the projects), and put the files for each project inside one image. Change one project, you only have to back up one image file, which is only a fraction of the total size of the drive. Even if you made each image file 1 GB -- an order of magnitude larger than the project files -- it would still be something you could easily back up onto a DVD, and all 10 disk images would still only take up less than 7% of a 150 GB drive.

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