Corrupted external (encrypted) apfs drive on High Sierra

apfsencryptionhard drive

I'm having trouble accessing data on my external USB disk called G-DRIVE USB – it just won't mount. I get the prompt to unlock, which I do, but it does nothing.

DiskUtility fails to open when this drive is connected – shows "loading disks" and does nothing.

So far I've tried to access the data manually by using the following terminal commands:

  @MacBook-Pro:~$ diskutil list
    /dev/disk0 (internal, physical):
       #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
       0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *251.0 GB   disk0
       1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk0s1
       2:                 Apple_APFS Container disk1         250.8 GB   disk0s2

    /dev/disk1 (synthesized):
       #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
       0:      APFS Container Scheme -                      +250.8 GB   disk1
                                     Physical Store disk0s2
       1:                APFS Volume Macintosh HD            189.8 GB   disk1s1
       2:                APFS Volume Preboot                 20.0 MB    disk1s2
       3:                APFS Volume Recovery                519.9 MB   disk1s3
       4:                APFS Volume VM                      1.1 GB     disk1s4

    /dev/disk2 (external, physical):
       #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
       0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *4.0 TB     disk2
       1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk2s1
       2:                 Apple_APFS Container disk3         4.0 TB     disk2s2

    /dev/disk3 (synthesized):
       #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
       0:      APFS Container Scheme -                      +4.0 TB     disk3
                                     Physical Store disk2s2
       1:                APFS Volume G-DRIVE USB             2.9 TB     disk3s1

If I try to repair it:

@MacBook-Pro:~$ diskutil repairVolume disk3s1
Started file system repair on disk3s1 G-DRIVE USB
Repairing file system
Volume is already unmounted
Performing fsck_apfs -y -x /dev/rdisk3s1
Checking volume
Checking the container superblock
Checking the EFI jumpstart record
Checking the space manager
Checking the object map
Checking the APFS volume superblock
Checking the object map
Checking the fsroot tree
warning: invalid dstream.default_crypto_id (0x0) for encrypted volume, given apfs_fs_flags (0x8)
warning: invalid dstream.default_crypto_id (0x0) for encrypted volume, given apfs_fs_flags (0x8)
warning: invalid dstream.default_crypto_id (0x0) for encrypted volume, given apfs_fs_flags (0x8)
warning: invalid dstream.default_crypto_id (0x0) for encrypted volume, given apfs_fs_flags (0x8)
warning: invalid dstream.default_crypto_id (0x0) for encrypted volume, given apfs_fs_flags (0x8)
warning: invalid dstream.default_crypto_id (0x0) for encrypted volume, given apfs_fs_flags (0x8)
warning: invalid dstream.default_crypto_id (0x0) for encrypted volume, given apfs_fs_flags (0x8)
warning: invalid dstream.default_crypto_id (0x0) for encrypted volume, given apfs_fs_flags (0x8)
warning: invalid dstream.default_crypto_id (0x0) for encrypted volume, given apfs_fs_flags (0x8)
warning: invalid dstream.default_crypto_id (0x0) for encrypted volume, given apfs_fs_flags (0x8)
warning: invalid dstream.default_crypto_id (0x0) for encrypted volume, given apfs_fs_flags (0x8)
warning: invalid dstream.default_crypto_id (0x0) for encrypted volume, given apfs_fs_flags (0x8)
warning: invalid dstream.default_crypto_id (0x0) for encrypted volume, given apfs_fs_flags (0x8)
warning: invalid dstream.default_crypto_id (0x0) for encrypted volume, given apfs_fs_flags (0x8)
warning: invalid dstream.default_crypto_id (0x0) for encrypted volume, given apfs_fs_flags (0x8)
warning: invalid dstream.default_crypto_id (0x0) for encrypted volume, given apfs_fs_flags (0x8)
warning: invalid dstream.default_crypto_id (0x0) for encrypted volume, given apfs_fs_flags (0x8)
warning: invalid dstream.default_crypto_id (0x0) for encrypted volume, given apfs_fs_flags (0x8)
warning: invalid dstream.default_crypto_id (0x0) for encrypted volume, given apfs_fs_flags (0x8)
warning: invalid dstream.default_crypto_id (0x0) for encrypted volume, given apfs_fs_flags (0x8)
warning: invalid dstream.default_crypto_id (0x0) for encrypted volume, given apfs_fs_flags (0x8)
warning: invalid dstream.default_crypto_id (0x0) for encrypted volume, given apfs_fs_flags (0x8)
warning: invalid dstream.default_crypto_id (0x0) for encrypted volume, given apfs_fs_flags (0x8)
warning: invalid dstream.default_crypto_id (0x0) for encrypted volume, given apfs_fs_flags (0x8)
warning: invalid dstream.default_crypto_id (0x0) for encrypted volume, given apfs_fs_flags (0x8)
warning: invalid dstream.default_crypto_id (0x0) for encrypted volume, given apfs_fs_flags (0x8)
warning: invalid dstream.default_crypto_id (0x0) for encrypted volume, given apfs_fs_flags (0x8)
warning: invalid dstream.default_crypto_id (0x0) for encrypted volume, given apfs_fs_flags (0x8)
warning: invalid dstream.default_crypto_id (0x0) for encrypted volume, given apfs_fs_flags (0x8)
warning: invalid dstream.default_crypto_id (0x0) for encrypted volume, given apfs_fs_flags (0x8)
warning: invalid dstream.default_crypto_id (0x0) for encrypted volume, given apfs_fs_flags (0x8)
warning: invalid dstream.default_crypto_id (0x0) for encrypted volume, given apfs_fs_flags (0x8)
warning: invalid dstream.default_crypto_id (0x0) for encrypted volume, given apfs_fs_flags (0x8)
warning: invalid dstream.default_crypto_id (0x0) for encrypted volume, given apfs_fs_flags (0x8)
warning: invalid dstream.default_crypto_id (0x0) for encrypted volume, given apfs_fs_flags (0x8)
warning: invalid dstream.default_crypto_id (0x0) for encrypted volume, given apfs_fs_flags (0x8)
warning: invalid dstream.default_crypto_id (0x0) for encrypted volume, given apfs_fs_flags (0x8)
warning: invalid dstream.default_crypto_id (0x0) for encrypted volume, given apfs_fs_flags (0x8)
warning: invalid dstream.default_crypto_id (0x0) for encrypted volume, given apfs_fs_flags (0x8)
warning: invalid dstream.default_crypto_id (0x0) for encrypted volume, given apfs_fs_flags (0x8)
warning: invalid dstream.default_crypto_id (0x0) for encrypted volume, given apfs_fs_flags (0x8)
warning: invalid dstream.default_crypto_id (0x0) for encrypted volume, given apfs_fs_flags (0x8)
warning: invalid dstream.default_crypto_id (0x0) for encrypted volume, given apfs_fs_flags (0x8)
warning: invalid dstream.default_crypto_id (0x0) for encrypted volume, given apfs_fs_flags (0x8)
warning: invalid dstream.default_crypto_id (0x0) for encrypted volume, given apfs_fs_flags (0x8)
warning: invalid dstream.default_crypto_id (0x0) for encrypted volume, given apfs_fs_flags (0x8)
warning: invalid dstream.default_crypto_id (0x0) for encrypted volume, given apfs_fs_flags (0x8)
warning: invalid dstream.default_crypto_id (0x0) for encrypted volume, given apfs_fs_flags (0x8)
warning: invalid dstream.default_crypto_id (0x0) for encrypted volume, given apfs_fs_flags (0x8)
warning: invalid dstream.default_crypto_id (0x0) for encrypted volume, given apfs_fs_flags (0x8)
Checking the snapshot metadata tree
Checking the extent ref tree
Checking the snapshots
Verifying allocated space
The volume /dev/rdisk3s1 appears to be OK
File system check exit code is 0
Restoring the original state found as unmounted
Finished file system repair on disk3s1 G-DRIVE USB

And it doesn't mount:

@MacBook-Pro:~$ diskutil mountdisk disk3s1
One or more volume(s) failed to mount

What else can I do? Any ideas? Thanks.

Best Answer

Are you using an adapter to connect the G-Drive to your MacBook Pro? This support page states that the G-Tech G-DRIVE mobile USB 3.0 Hard Drive is not compatible with the USB-C Digital AV Multiport Adapter or the USB-C VGA Multiport Adapter: