They are facing a high risk of loss.ĭon't worry. Consequently, you can't access important files, like documents, emails, videos, on your Mac. When Mac can't find the internal hard drive, you'll see a folder with Question Mark on Mac startup. Therefore, it is frustrating if your Mac doesn't recognize the internal hard drive. It not only loads the operating system but also stores data. You will be asked to choose an encryption key.Usually, the internal hard drive for a Mac is the startup disk or boot drive. Give the partition some sort of time-travel-related name, then click the “Format” dropdown option.Ĭhoose “Mac OS Extended (Journaled, Encrypted)” from the choices offered, then click the “Erase” button. To get started, click your external drive in the left panel, then click the “Erase” button in the toolbar. which you can find in Applications > Utilities.

If you’re setting up a new hard drive with Time Machine, or are simply willing to start over with a clean partition in order to avoid a long encryption period, you can set up an encrypted partition using Disk Utility. The Quickest Option: Set up a New Encrypted Backup And backups will continue as normal during the encryption process.

You don’t need to leave the drive connected until the process is done: unmount the drive and encryption will start again the next time it’s connected. Like we said before, a one terabyte drive can easily take more than 24 hours. Once you’ve set a password, click “Encrypt disk.” Your mac will start encrypting the drive you can check the progress in the Time Machine pane in system settings.

If you need help thinking of a password, click the key icon to bring up the macOS password assistant. Write it down and store it somewhere safe, like a lock box, and also store it in your password manager. If you lose this password, you can’t recover any files from the drive, so don’t lose the password.

How to encrypt macbook pro hard drive