- Open Disk Utility on Mac -> Select Hard Drive or SSD or Usb flash drive -> Click on Erase and Select form as APFS and scheme as GUID and erase and password protect external hard drive or ssd on mac.
- You can also password external hard drive or ssd on mac using file vault and encrypt external hard drive without erasing data using file vault.
You can password protect your external hard drive HDD or SSD on your macbook pro or air macOS Monterey or macOS Ventura and before password protecting your external hard drive on mac its recommended to take backup of important files on macbook and then keep password for external hard driver or SSD On mac as it erase all data once you keep password for external hard drive hdd or ssd.
Password Protect External Hard Drive Mac Monterey
Below steps will help you password protect external hard drive or ssd or macOS monterey or macOS ventura.
Step 1: Connect External Hard Drive to Macbook and Hit command + C at the same time and open spotlight search
Step 2: Type Disk Utility in Spotlight search and open it.
Step 3: Click on the Drop down button on top ( next to disk utility) and Select Show All Devices.
Step 4: Choose External Hard Drive on left side options and select external hard drive or usb or pen drive.
Step 5: Select External Hard drive and Click on Erase on top menu.
Step 6: Enter User Name and Select the format as APFS and Select the scheme as GUID Partition Map.
Step 7: Enter password and verify password and enter password hint in case you forgot password, then click on choose.
Step 8: Now, click on Erase and click on Done.
Step 9: Now, go ahead and open the External hard drive on the mac and it will ask for password and you need to enter the password inorder to access the external hard drive.
That’s it, this is how you keep password for external hard drive on Macbook pro or air on MacOS Monterey or MacOS ventura and protect files on external hard drive on macbook.
Also Read:
1) How do I Backup my Entire Mac to an External Hard Drive on MacBook pro or Air?
2) How to Fix Unable to Copy Files on MacBook pro or Air to External Hard Drive
3) How to Fix External Hard Drive Not Showing up MacBook Pro or air MacOS Monterey
4) How to Fix MacBook Pro SD Card USB Flash Drive Not Reading
5) How to Fix macOS Monterey Not Installing on MacBook Pro M1 Air
Password Protect External Hard Drive on Mac Without Erasing Data
You can also password protect external hard drive mac without erasing as well and you need to turn on filevault and select encrypt with file vault.
Why Cant I Encrypt My External Hard Drive Mac?
If you can’t encrypt external hard drive on mac then the issue is with your External hard drive format which is not compatible with MacBook pro or Air and you need to format external hard drive or usb flash drive with the Macbook supported format and then encrypt external hard drive on Mac with filevault.