how to decrypt hdd files?

The time of this post is absolutely right. As the need to keep your data confidential and private is enhancing, the more and more people are switching to encryption.

But, Why?

It is because the only way to access the encrypted hard drive is to unlock the same using the password.

There is no second thought in saying that the process to encrypt hard drive offers you utmost security and protection of data. But, as the coin has two sides, similarly, here also benefit come with a drawback, i.e., if you forget the password, you will not be able to access it and its contained information.

Certainly, several questions must be triggering in your mind. Below are few to name among them:

The answer to all these questions is a Big No. You can still unlock it, you can still access your data, and lastly, you can still use your hard drive.

Here is how.

Let’s consider it using an example.

Suppose, you have a hard drive that you use only to salvage your photos, videos, and audio. All of a sudden something weird happened to it, and it stopped working. Now, the only thing that is troubling you is how to recover data from Windows encrypted hard drive. To solve it, you contacted your friend, and he suggested you the top-rated anchor: Stellar Data Recovery- Standard.

You got a hope and decided to use it. For this, you immediately started with its activation process, and after that, you launched it to recover your data. The moment you begin, the software asked you to decrypt the hard drive using a password. But, sadly, you forgot it.

Now, what’s Next? How to recover the data from Encrypted Hard Drive after you have lost the password.

First Port of Call: Calm down.

In such state of despair, you can still recover the data from the encrypted hard drive. But, here, you have to unlock the hard drive first and then proceed with your recommended software.

How to Decrypt the Encrypted Hard Drive?

Option 1: BitLocker Drive Encryption

Option 2: Decrypt using Certificates

It is a perfect option to decrypt. For this, you only need the certificate for an encrypted hard drive.

Steps are:

Once you are through with decryption process of Encrypted Drive, launch the software and follow its onscreen guidance to recover the data.

Steps to recover the Data from Encrypted Hard Drive after Decryption:

1. Launch Stellar Data Recovery- Standard for Windows software

2. From the main interface, choose the Type of Data that you want to recover (Everything or Customize your Scan). Click Next

3. Next, from Select Location window, choose your Hard Drive that you have decrypted using afore-stated Unlock methods.

4. Click Scan to start the scanning of the selected drive for the desired data ( Photos, Videos, & Audio)

5. Next, under Preview window, select the desired found files to launch its Preview

6. Next, Checkmark the desired files and click Recover

7. Lastly, specify the Destination and click Start Saving to save all the files.

The completes the Data Recovery Process from Encrypted Hard Drive

Important Consideration

"I have a 160GB hard drive partition used as a photo album in my PC to store all fancy photos for my life. I have stored almost about 2 years' photos there and encrypted so to avoid data loss problem. I upgraded my computer from Windows 8 to Windows 10. And here is the problem that I lost the password for the EFS hard drive partition and I'm wondering whether I can still access my photos and restore them from the EFS encrypted hard drive partition? And I want to move those photos to my new external hard drive. So can you help me to get all my photos out from the EFS hard drive partition under Windows 10?"

If you are having a similar problem and cannot access data to EFS partition or hard drives in PC or Mac, don't bother. Here below, you'll find wanted solutions to restore data from encrypted hard drive partition now.

Trying to unlock a hard drive to resolve Windows installation problem? Go to the linked page.

Here are two ways to decrypt the HDD in Windows OS and one way to decrypt Mac OS.

If you have a certificate for the encrypted (EFS) hard drive partition, you can access data in the hard drive with ease. Here below are detailed steps about how to decrypt EFS (encrypted) hard drive partition in Windows 10/8/7:

Step 1: Open Run dialogue (Windows + R keys), type certmgr.msc and hit Enter

Step 2: Open Certificate Manager > Click Personal folder in the left pane;

Step 3: Select Action > All Tasks > Import and follow the Certificate Import Wizard

If you don't have any certificate or password for decrypting the EFS (encrypted) hard drive partition in Windows OS, you may follow the other method behind.

Enter: Diskpart in the search bar > list disk (you should be able to spot the encrypted hard drive by the size, take note of the number listed against it) > select disk x (where x is the number from the previous step) > clean > create partition primary > select partition 1 > active > format fs=ntfs quick /override > exit.

For example:

Open Terminal and paste: sudo chflags 0 /Volumes/* and hit Return > enter your admin password and press Return > type: sudo chmod a+rx /Volumes/* and hit Return > type: killall Finder and hit Return.

When all these steps are done, you'll be able to decrypt the hard drive on your Mac. If you have forgotten the password, you can follow the next steps to erase and decrypt Mac hard drive:

1. Launch Terminal and enter: diskutil cs and high return.

2. The Terminal will produce a result comprising of codes in a hierarchy. In the code copy the alphanumeric code which is next to the Logical Volume Group.

3. Type: diskutil cs delete XXXX____YYYY___ZZZZ___XYZ and hit Enter.

After decrypting the HDD, you shall be able to open and use previously encrypted hard drive partition-saved data by then. If you still cannot access those saved data, relax and let professional data recovery software help.

Professional EFS recovery alternative software - EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard can help you access to all saved data in decrypted hard drive partition which was encrypted previously. It has both a Windows and Mac version. So, download the appropriate version according to your needs.

EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard can access your data in the previously encrypted hard drive partition without any password or certificate in Windows OS. You can free download it and follow below steps to restore your data such as photos back to your new storage device or a safe spot on your PC.

Step 1. Select the drive where you lose your data and click "Scan".

Step 2. Use "Filter" or "Search" to find the lost files when the scan completes.

Step 3. Select all the files you want and click "Recover". Then, browse another secure location to save them.

You could also watch this video tutorial to see how to recover data from the hard drive.

After restoring data from the encrypted hard drive partition, you can reformat it into NTFS and make it reusable and readable again.

• Go to Start button.
• Select Control Panel.
• Next, choose System and Security.
• Next, select BitLocker Drive Encryption.
• Lastly, click Decrypt Drive. ( This option automatically unlocks the selected drive)

What can you do to decrypt hard disk drive on Windows when there is no password or the password is useless? Now, you can try following method to decrypt your hard disk drive on Windows computer:

1. Double click "My Computer" or "This PC" and then you can see all disk partitions on your computer

2. Click "Start" button > "Control Panel"

3. Click "System and Security"

4. Click "Bitlocker Drive Encryption"

5. Click "decrypt drive" so that it will decrypt the selected drive automatically

When the decryption is completed, you can access the hard disk partition normally without any password. If you still have more problems to decrypt files on Windows hard drive, you can refer to this page: how to restore encrypted files

In addition, you can also rely on some professional decryption software to decrypt hard drive on Windows system. You can find many such kind of tools, some of while are free and some need to pay.

Whether you know the method to decrypt your hard drive or not when there is no password, you had better make sure that you have restored all needed files. Especially if the hard drive cannot be decrypted because it is corrupted, you had better extract all files from the encrypted hard drive first of all.

iCare Data Recovery Free is a Windows data recovery program, so you can install it on any Windows PC when you meet data loss problem since you have no method to access an encrypted hard drive. You are able to get back inaccessible files without decrypting the hard drive by using this free data recovery software:

Download iCare Free

Step1. Free download and install this software on your Windows computer. Run the software and select a proper scan mode.

Step2. Choose the decrypted partition where data got lost and then wait the software to scan it for lost files.

Step3. Preview files after scanning and then save the lost files to another drive.

Usually, you can access data from an encrypted hard drive on Windows computer as long as you know correct password. However, you may fail to decrypt hard drive and cannot access any data due to many reasons. For example: 1. The most common reason is that you forget the password. It is usually impossible to decrypt the hard drive without a correct password. 2. Sometimes, you know the correct password, but you may also fail to decrypt the hard drive since the hard drive is corrupted. 3. The hard drive is attacked by virus, after which the file system of the hard drive is corrupted. Therefore, you are unable to decrypt the hard drive even with a correct password. 3. Probably, you may be unable to decrypt hard drive on Windows due to many other reasons such as system reinstalling, Windows system crash, etc.

Many people like to encrypt their hard drive on Windows in order to protect personal data from being stolen by others. The only way to access an encrypted hard drive is to type correct password so as to decrypt the hard drive. There is no doubt that it provides a quite security solution for data protection, but it is also inconvenient if you forget the password. How can you access an encrypted hard drive on Windows after losing password? Here, you can learn useful and free method to decrypt hard drive without a password and recover lost files on Windows.