I created an encrypted disk on a USB drive the other day, and added a password hint. I don't remember what the password is. (I have a scheme for mapping hints to passwords, so when there's a hint available I just pick something random and write out the appropriate hint.)
When reconnecting the disk today, OS X popped up the password prompt – but no hint displayed.
When I go into Disk Utility and try to mount the volume, same thing. Not even a button to show the hint!
So now I've got no idea what the password is. How do I find out the hint?
OS X 10.12.6 (16G29)
Here's the process I went through. (I went through it again using a spare SD card and took screen grabs at each point.)
- From Disk Utility, select disk in question and go to the Erase option. Select
Mac OS Extended (Journaled, Encrypted)
- The password box appears. Enter password and add a hint.
(I usually pick a more cryptic hint than that)
- Click
Choose
, then clickErase
, and it will do its thing. ClickDone
once it's done, and quit Disk Utility.
-
Eject the newly-mounted encrypted disk image from Finder, then unplug USB hard drive.
-
Reinsert USB hard drive and wait for password dialog to appear.
But where's the hint?!
Best Answer
Have you tried entering an incorrect password? If I enter a wrong password three times, I get the hint displayed.