This has not been my experience. Please elaborate w/ references.
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Password Protected Folder Won't Open!
- Thread starter Christopher11
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Corrected to say Disc First Aid. Apple advisor told me this a few years back. I was getting continuous errors and “damage” on a non-boot drive. They told me that Disc First Aid is only meant to repair boot drives.
That doesn't sound right to me seeing how DU also formats the drive.
Disc Utility can format the drive for sure. Just Disc First Aid is meant to correct OS issues.
The Apple advisor was sadly misinformed. First Aid will work against any disk whether it external or internal, boot or non-boot. Also, it doesn’t fix OS issues per se but instead can fix (hopefully) file system corruption issues. When it comes to the boot disk, Disk Utility (and First Aid built into it) is the only option available when booted into Recovery.
Oh yes, I've got many copies. This .dmg isn't large, maybe 18MB. So I've got one on each partitioned drive, and one here on my native HD. But it won't open.
Thank you but I don't think it's failing. It's a new Seagate USB drive, less than a year old. I think Disk First Aid is showing an error due to that being an exact copy of my native HD. A poster above mentioned that Disk First Aid isn't as good for external drives. (I hadn't known that)
I wonder why it's showing an error when I try to run First Aid. Maybe I need to try and start up from that drive itself and run it from there.
You want to start up from a different drive than the one you intend to attempt a repair.
Okay. Well that's what I did last night. It didn't let me run First Aid on that partition though. It gives me a glimmer of hope that the .dmg opened only days ago. Maybe the angels will smile on me and that will happen again, for some inexplicable reason. I'm going to keep working on this though. I want those files.
If you have multiple copies of the same DMG file, can you open any of the DMG copies?
If none of your copies will open that you have stored on different partitions, that means that DMG file is either damaged and can't be opened, or the password you thought you entered when creating the DMG isn't the actual password entered. You need to create a new document.
This is lazy I'm sure, but I used the same password I use to log into my computer. I enter it daily, multiple times. I certainly could have made a mistake when I first set it up... but I think it's unlikely I would get lucky and repeat that mistake the many times since that I've been able to get it to open. I tried capitalizing, and using all caps, just in case it was that but no dice.
Please tell me about creating a new document!
Since you're using the same password for "your computer", are there any biometrics that you use on said computer to log into the computer?
If so, open a Text file on your computer, and enter the password, thus confirming if all the respective characters from the keyboard are working as expected. If not, then I would try another keyboard to log into that .DMG file.
If so, open a Text file on your computer, and enter the password, thus confirming if all the respective characters from the keyboard are working as expected. If not, then I would try another keyboard to log into that .DMG file.
To make things easier on you, open Pages and create a new document where you put everything in that document that is important to you. Once you are finished creating the Pages document, click on File > Set password. Once you set a password, save that document to several different places besides the default iCloud option. That way, you should always have access to the file.
Ah, good idea. I can do that. You mean simply type the password on a text file, right?
Yes, since it's a 2018 MB Pro I use touch (index finger) fairly often. It's not an option for this .dmg file though.
...just for the sake or testing, go through the process of opening the .DMG, and enter the password in ALL CAPS.
Wondering if by accident the CAPS lock was on.
Am seriously reaching here.
Honestly, at this rate, you may have to count this as a loss. Albeit, I understand the frustration of not having access to said data.
Is there any alternative approach, to not having this data? If so, might need to simply 'start over' and store your data in a more secure method. Sorry...
Is there any alternative approach, to not having this data? If so, might need to simply 'start over' and store your data in a more secure method. Sorry...
It's okay brother, truly appreciate your efforts. Thank you. I'll keep trying. It worked days ago... so it may work again (for some inexplicable reason).
From the original post:
"I have a folder I password protected on my external USB drive, and though it opened the other day without issue, it won't open now. ... Any tricks to managing this quirk? The next time I get it open I will copy the files to a non protected folder... I don't want to risk not having access to them. Any alternate ways to attack this issue?"
A Fishrrman editorial™:
Here's yet one more reason why I've posted often in the forum that one should not encrypt or password-protect drives, folders, disk images, etc. -- UNLESS one has an "absolute need" to do so (such as requirement from employer, etc.).
The day may come when you NEED things in that encrypted or password protected volume... and you find you CAN'T "get to them".
With a VERY few exceptions, I keep all my data "in the clear".
I WANT it to be "easy to access" in that "moment of need".
(end of editorial)
"I have a folder I password protected on my external USB drive, and though it opened the other day without issue, it won't open now. ... Any tricks to managing this quirk? The next time I get it open I will copy the files to a non protected folder... I don't want to risk not having access to them. Any alternate ways to attack this issue?"
A Fishrrman editorial™:
Here's yet one more reason why I've posted often in the forum that one should not encrypt or password-protect drives, folders, disk images, etc. -- UNLESS one has an "absolute need" to do so (such as requirement from employer, etc.).
The day may come when you NEED things in that encrypted or password protected volume... and you find you CAN'T "get to them".
With a VERY few exceptions, I keep all my data "in the clear".
I WANT it to be "easy to access" in that "moment of need".
(end of editorial)
...and I am, guessing, your main objective is to make sure the entire device (MBP/MBA/Mac Mini, etcetera) is properly secured, no?
I'm confused...how does this help the OP?
Nowhere did the OP say he was using a password manager, nor did he say he was using a document. The OP created a password protected image file from a folder. It could have been a folder containing photos, videos, tax documents, a work project, etc. Can't put those in a Pages document.