USB Hard Drive HFS+ Encrypted Partition Formatted / Recovery

disk-utilityencryptionhard drivehfs+partition

I have a WD 1TB USB External Hard Drive that was accidentally formatted. I had formatted the disk and started writing an ISO to the disk (less than 5 seconds), when I realized it was to the wrong one. The disk had 2 partitions, one is FAT32, the other is HFS+ Encrypted. The FAT32 partition can be lost, however the HFS+ Encrypted partition has data that I need recovered. Also, I know the password to the HFS+ Encrypted partition that was lost.

I have tried using EaseUs Data Recovery, Stellar Phoenix Macintosh on Windows, and Prosoft Data Rescue 4 to no avail. People online have mentioned TestDisk and PhotoRec, however I am not familiar with how those work.

I would copy my USB hard drive before attempting any restores, however I do not have a spare 1TB hard drive lying around. Is this something I should spend money to buy?

I would appreciate any help and advice you can provide.

Best Answer

I think unless you can recover the directory information, you have little chance.

Recovery apps rely on being able to rebuild directory data from fragments, or discern recognisable file patterns in the data. If the data is encrypted, there are no patterns to discern.

I would be happy to be wrong, in this instance.