Member Avatar for john-carter

What are my chances of data recovery from external hard drive which is password protected. I consulted one data recovery services and their asking price is $350. Do I have some other less costlier option for data recovery?

HDD Manufacturer - WD Elements WDBUZG0010BBK-EESN 1TB Portable External Hard Drive"

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by steven.lsyan

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In this thread is dealing with a password‑protected external drive. There are two very different technical cases that change recovery chances: (A) an OS‑level encrypted volume or container (macOS APFS/HFS+ encryption, VeraCrypt/TrueCrypt, etc.), and (B) encryption performed by the drive’s enclosure/controller (manufacturer hardware encryption). Identify which case you have before spending time or money — the first is recoverable only with the password/recovery key, the second can be effectively impossible without the original enclosure or the password.

Quick diagnostic steps (do these read‑only): attach the drive to a Mac, open Disk Utility/System Information, or run these Terminal checks to see how the Mac sees the device:

diskutil list
diskutil info /dev/diskN
diskutil apfs list
diskutil cs list

Look for signs such as “APFS Encrypted,” CoreStorage, or an immediate password prompt from macOS. If a separate vendor unlock tool is required (often on Windows), that points toward enclosure‑level encryption.

Safe, practical workflow: stop any write/repair actions. Create a bit‑for‑bit image and work from the image (imaging needs a target with equal or greater free space). Example (advanced users):

sudo dd if=/dev/diskN of=~/Desktop/external.img bs=1m conv=noerror,sync

Try official unlock utilities first (if the vendor provides one). If the password is truly lost, brute‑force decryption is only realistic for weak passphrases and requires specialist tools and time.

Regarding options and costs: as noted, software can help — but no tool can defeat strong encryption without the key. As and implied, professional labs charge for the extra work and expertise. If data is critical, ask any lab for a written scope: will they image the drive, how they handle encrypted media, whether they work from a copy, and their success/no‑data‑no‑fee policy.

Member Avatar for fallout4player

try get software to get your data back. be sure to only get it from a trusted website.

Member Avatar for fallout4player

I checked online and there are a few places where u can get this done. there are free ones but I wouldn't trust em

Member Avatar for rincepqs

The price is fairly OK as for encrypted drive. it took more time to break the password.

Member Avatar for steven.lsyan

I know that data loss is a big problem for many computer users, especially for Mac users 'cause most of the Mac user think Mac OS is complicated than Windows OS (in my opinion it is.).
To solve your data loss problem and perform Mac file recovery, these tips you may need to follow.
If you meet the data loss problem, stop operating your device/computer right now because it may cause the worse result such as data overwritten, and this situation will make the probability of recovering deleted files decrease from 95% .
If you

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