{"id":13154,"date":"2018-09-13T21:37:59","date_gmt":"2018-09-13T21:37:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/help\/?p=13154"},"modified":"2026-10-20T13:02:00","modified_gmt":"2026-10-20T13:02:00","slug":"data-recovery-from-encrypted-hfs-and-apfs-volumes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/help\/hfs-apfs-data-recovery.html","title":{"rendered":"Recover Data From Encrypted APFS and HFS+ Drives on Mac"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img src=\"\/help\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/MacHD-300x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-13157 colorbox-13154\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/help\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/MacHD-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/help\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/MacHD-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/help\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/MacHD-768x768.png 768w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/help\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/MacHD-500x500.png 500w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/help\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/MacHD.png 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><br \/>\nDisk Drill for Mac supports data recovery from encrypted APFS and HFS+ volumes, including FileVault-protected drives. Recovery depends on whether the volume can be unlocked and the missing files are still available on the storage device.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"do_i_need_a_password_to_recover_encrypted_files\"><\/span><b>Do I Need a Password to Recover Encrypted Files?<\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Yes. You need valid credentials to unlock the volume. For a FileVault-protected startup disk, this may be an authorized user&#8217;s Mac login password or a FileVault recovery key. An encrypted external drive may have a separate password.<\/p>\n<p>Disk Drill cannot bypass encryption. You do not need to turn off FileVault or permanently decrypt the entire drive before scanning.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"which_drive_or_volume_should_i_scan\"><\/span><b>Which Drive or Volume Should I Scan?<\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Unlocked HFS+ volume:<\/b> Select the unlocked volume under <b>Logical Volumes<\/b> in Disk Drill.<\/li>\n<li><b>Locked HFS+ volume:<\/b> Open <b>Disk Utility<\/b>, select the encrypted volume, and click <b>Mount<\/b>. Enter its password if prompted, then return to Disk Drill and select the unlocked volume.<\/li>\n<li><b>Encrypted APFS volume:<\/b> Select the affected volume in Disk Drill. You can also scan its parent APFS container or physical drive. Enter the password or supported recovery key when prompted.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"how_to_recover_files_with_disk_drill\"><\/span><b>How to Recover Files With Disk Drill<\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Before you begin, stop saving files to the affected drive. Recover important data before attempting repairs or formatting.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Open <a href=\"\/mac-data-recovery.html\">Disk Drill for Mac<\/a> and grant the requested disk access permissions.<\/li>\n<li>Select the affected drive or volume using the guidance above.<\/li>\n<li>Click <b>Search for lost data<\/b> and choose <b>Universal Scan<\/b> if prompted. Unlock the volume when asked.<\/li>\n<li>Let the scan finish, then click <b>Review found items<\/b>. Filter the results and preview the files you need.<\/li>\n<li>Select your files, click <b>Recover<\/b>, and save them to a different physical drive.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"when_encrypted_drive_recovery_may_not_work\"><\/span><b>When Encrypted Drive Recovery May Not Work<\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Recovery may be impossible if the password and recovery key are unavailable, essential encryption information is damaged, or the file data has been overwritten or cleared by SSD <a href=\"\/help\/can-i-recover-data-if-trim-is-enabled-on-my-ssd-drive\/\">TRIM<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>On Macs with Apple silicon or a T2 chip, erasing an internal volume can destroy its encryption keys. The previous password cannot restore data whose keys are gone. In these cases, check Time Machine or another backup.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Disk Drill for Mac supports data recovery from encrypted APFS and HFS+ volumes, including FileVault-protected drives. Recovery depends on whether the volume can be unlocked and the missing files are still available on the storage device. Do I Need a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-13154","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-recovery"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Recover Data From Encrypted APFS and HFS+ Drives on Mac<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Learn how to recover files from encrypted APFS and HFS+ drives with Disk Drill, unlock FileVault volumes, and understand common recovery limits.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/help\/hfs-apfs-data-recovery.html\" \/>\n<meta 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