How to Recover Lost Data From FILEVAULT Encrypted Mac?

What Is FileVault?

How to Turn OFF FileVault Encryption on Mac?

Here are the steps to turn OFF FileVault encryption feature on your Mac:

• The decryption process could take a while, depending upon the amount of data stored on the drive. However, you can still use your Mac to do other tasks while decryption runs in the background.
• To turn OFF FileVault, Administrator login name and password is required.

1. On your Mac, choose Apple menu  > System Preferences
2. Click Security & Privacy, and select FileVault
3. Click the lock icon 
4. Authenticate by providing administrator name and password when prompted
5. Click Turn Off FileVault
6. Click Turn Off Encryption

Now that you’ve turned OFF FileVault on your Mac, you’re one step away from using a third-party data recovery software on your Mac.

Steps to Recover Data from Mac by Using Stellar Data Recovery Software

• Launch Stellar Data Recovery Software for Mac (if not already launched/downloaded) download from the link below

Free Download 100% Secure

• From the main interface, turn ON the toggle switch in accordance with the type of files you want to recover and click Next

• On Select Location screen, select the Mac drive from where you want to recover data and then click Scan.
• You can also toggle ON Deep Scan switch at the bottom-left corner. Deep Scan is a comprehensive file signature-based search for maximum recovery in tough data loss cases such as drive formatting, corruption, etc.

• Select the files you want to recover, and click on the Recover button

• Browse a location to save the recovered files.
• Select a different location other than the drive from where you’ve lost data.

• Click Save to start saving the recovered files
  This will save the recovered data at your selected location.

Post Data Recovery Actions

Once you’ve recovered your lost data, you can now enable the SIP, which you’d turned OFF before running the software.

The process to enable the SIP is similar to disabling it (as mentioned above). The only difference is that you’d need to run csrutil enable command instead of csrutil disable.

You can also turn ON FileVault after recovering the data.

Steps to enable FileVault:

• On your Mac, choose Apple menu  > System Preferences, click Security & Privacy, then click FileVault
• Click the lock icon  and enter administrator name and password when prompted
• Click Turn On FileVault
  As you click Turn On FileVault, your Mac system gives you two options to choose from for unlocking your drive and resetting the login password in case you forget it:
  • Use your iCloud account: Click “Allow my iCloud account to unlock my disk”
  • Create a recovery key: Click “Create a recovery key and do not use my iCloud account”.
    [Important]: If you choose “Create a recovery key and do not use my iCloud account” make sure that you write down the recovery key and keep it in a safe place. You would never be able to unlock the disk and reset password if you lose this key.
• Choose any of the above options as per your need
• Follow on-screen instructions to complete the process
  [NOTE]: Once you enable FileVault, all the allowed users will have to enter the password to unlock the disk.