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Why APFS No Auto-mount If Encrypted?

Hello, I formatted my external HD and USB stick to APFS encrypted before, both of them cannot automatically mount! They are visible in Disk Utility but in an unmounted state. If I mount it manually in Disk Utility, a password is asked for the first time. But it is never mounted automatically again. If I use APFS (no encryption), no problem with mounting when inserted! Is something wrong done?

Best Answered by

Connie Yang

Answered on Monday, April 29, 2024

There's no problem with your APFS formatted hard disk drive and USB stick.

Since you formatted both of them to APFS (Encrypted), in simple words, the APFS drive is encrypted and protected by a password you've set. Every time when you connect the encrypted APFS drive to your Mac, macOS will show a popup window to ask for the password to unlock the encrypted drive before mounting it.

I think that you probably ignore the pop-up warning so that the drives are visible but in the unmounted state in Disk Utility. If you want the APFS-encrypted HD and USB flash drive can automatically mount every time you connect it to your Mac, you can:

  1. Eject the two drives.
  2. Reconnect them to your Mac.
  3. When the alerting dialogue box shows up, tick "Remember this password in my keychain".

Once the password of the encrypted APFS drive is stored in Keychain Access, the external hard drive won't ask for password on your Mac the next time.

It worth mentioning that APFS and APFS (Encrypted) are different. APFS (no encryption) formatted drives can auto-mount on Mac machines without unlocking.