If you have a password-protected storage unit, in this tutorial you will learn how to change the password of a hard disk or a password-encrypted partition. Very useful, including in the case of partitions passwords and encrypted flash drives.
We showed in the past in a tutorial, how we can password a storage device for Mac. Formatting, encryption and password USB drive, hard disk, SSD or any other compatible storage device.
In the tutorial above we showed how to share an external storage unit (flash drive, External Hard Drive) in several parities and how can we password one of them. A very efficient method if we have for example an external hard disk with large storage space, il we divide into several partitions, but one of them we want to be with the password to protect our sensitive data. Pictures, videos, documents, etc.
Once a partition or entire storage drive is passworded and encrypted, it is a good idea to keep the password in a safe place. The encryption password of an external hard drive cannot be recovered. At best, when you set the password for a hard drive or flash drive, you also enter a help word or phrase to give you a clue.
Tutorial: Partitioning and password (encryption) flash drive / hard drive on Mac
If for various reasons we want to change the encryption password of a storage unit on Mac, then things are simple.
How to change the password of an encrypted hard disk or flash drive on macOS
We take the scenario in which we have a flash drive SanDisk Ultra USB 3.0 of 256 GB, divided into two partitions formatted in two volumes: APFS si APFS Encrypted (with password). At the end, called "Stealth"We want to change his password.
1. To change the password of a partition / volume, we must first know the current password. Enter the volume encryption password. “Enter a password to unlock the disc".
2. Open the Disk Utility (by default on macOS), and in the left bar select the encrypted volume for which we want to change the password.
Once selected we go to a menu at: Fillet → Change Password...
3. A dialog box will open in which we have to enter the old encryption password, then twice the new password and a word or a help phrase, in case we forget it.
Click on the "Change" button to change the password.
This operation of changing the password of an encrypted external hard drive or flash drive will not affect the data stored on that volume.
And as a clarification, an external hard disk or encrypted flash drive APFS will never be able to be accessed on Windows pc. Normally, no simple APFS formatted disk can be accessed, if on Windows no specific drivers and applications are installed to read APFS volumes.
