change password on external Hd

[machappyboy]

How to change password on encrypted external hard drive on big sur?

 

[chabig]

Decrypt it first, then encrypt it with the new password.

 

[Weaselboy]

How to change password on encrypted external hard drive on big sur?

You can change it using Disk Utility.

 

[machappyboy]

This menu item is is unavailable on my Big Sur install... Any ideas why? Is it because it's formatted as Mac Journal Encrypted instead of APFS?

 

[Weaselboy]

Is it because it's formatted as Mac Journal Encrypted instead of APFS?

I don't think that is the problem.

How to change an encrypted volume's password in OS X

While encrypting and decrypting a volume can be done on the fly, the option for changing its password is a bit hidden.

www.cnet.com

This 2013 article (before APFS existed) show it being done.

Maybe try the diskutil command in Terminal discussed in that article.

 

[machappyboy]

I solved this.

It turns out the Change Password menu item is only usable on APFS-formatted disks. Once I converted the Mac Journaled HD to APFS, I was able to access that menu item.