#Encrypted file sync mac password

A person may be using a cloud-based backup storage system, like Backblaze or Carbonite, and you may be able to find the password for that if you canвЂ™t find their Mac accountвЂ™s password. (If they did that, they might also have taken steps to allow someone else to gain access later if they couldnвЂ™t.) Look for a drive directly connected to the computer, to another computer on the network, or a Time Capsule, AppleвЂ™s discontinued networked Time Machine backup option. While startup drives may be encrypted via FileVault or the T2 chip, Time Machine and other backups typically arenвЂ™t, unless someone takes an extra step to encrypt the volume. (The best вЂњhackersвЂќ in movies always make a joke about it when asked what sophisticated cracking tool they will use: they just find the sticky note.)Дid the person ever give you a password as a backup in case they lost or forgot theirs? Check your messages, password manager, or notes. This is surprisingly common, yet often overlooked.

Several strategies can help, some of them absurdly low tech:Д¬heck for sticky notes, password books, or other places someone may have written down their password. Strategies to work around not having the password The Startup Security Manger on T2-equipped Macs prevents staring up from an external drive without changing settings-which requires a password.ДonвЂ™t give up yet, however.

Even if you could mount a drive on another device, if FileVault is enabled or itвЂ™s a mac with a T2 chip, itвЂ™s impossible to decrypt the driveвЂ™s contents. But Macs of the last few years have drives that canвЂ™t easily be removed or are impossible to remove at all. You might consider removing the hard drive as one strategy. Because the T2 chip restricts starting up with an external drive without making a specific administrative change that requires a password, you wonвЂ™t even be able to boot off an external drive-and youвЂ™d need an account password after that to mount the drive when started up externally, in any case. With the T2 chip and no FileVault, a Mac will boot to the startup screen, but unless you had the password, even though the driveвЂ™s contents are available to a user, youвЂ™d have to break into macOS to gain access to files. Otherwise its startup volume remains unavailable. With FileVault turned on with any Mac, a password has to be entered at startup to even start macOS running. In nearly every scenario involving either a Mac with a T2 chip, FileVault enabled, or both, you have to have an administrative accountвЂ™s password, often the main or only account on a Mac: You may not know if was, so you can try the following if both Macs have a FireWire (older models) or Thunderbolt 2 or 3 port: You may be able to mount a Mac as a volume on another Mac without a password using Target Disk Mode-as long as FileVault wasnвЂ™t enabled. Use Target Disk Mode or external drive startup If it doesnвЂ™t have a T2 chip, you can try the following if not, read on for what wonвЂ™t work, and then strategies to try without the password. If the Mac in question is one of the above models, skip to вЂњStrategies to work around not having the password,вЂќ later in this article. Without a fingerprint on a Touch ID-equipped Mac (for a computer thatвЂ™s running, logged in, and in the right circumstances) or a password for any Mac, even without FileVault enabled, the contents of the MacвЂ™s drive could be permanently unavailable. The T2 chip on a Mac automatically encrypts the startup drive as a way to improve security dramatically-including rendering a driveвЂ™s contents unreadable if a device were lost or stolen.