SSD Disconnected in the Middle of Transfer — Now Can’t Be Unlocked (APFS Encrypted)

BCAdmin1 Comment on SSD Disconnected in the Middle of Transfer — Now Can’t Be Unlocked (APFS Encrypted)

Urgent Data Recovery Needed: Samsung T5/T7 SSD Disconnected During Transfer

I’m reaching out for assistance with a serious issue involving my Samsung T5/T7 SSD (2TB), which became disconnected in the midst of a crucial file transfer. The drive is formatted with APFS encryption, and it holds data that is absolutely vital to me.

Upon reconnecting the SSD, I observed the following:

  • The drive appears in the output of diskutil list as an APFS container containing two encrypted volumes, both of which are currently unmounted and locked.
  • When attempting to unlock one volume via Terminal with the command diskutil apfs unlockVolume disk5s1, I received the message: “Passphrase incorrect or user does not exist.”
  • Additionally, executing diskutil apfs listCryptoUsers disk5s1 produced an error indicating that it couldn’t retrieve the list of cryptographic users for the APFS volume, specifically citing: “Unable to get list of crypto users for this APFS Volume (-69552).”

Based on this information, it seems that the encryption metadata may be damaged or missing, possibly due to the abrupt disconnection during an active data write process.

I have a few pressing questions:

  1. Has anyone here had success in recovering an APFS-encrypted volume that is showing signs of corrupted crypto metadata (with neither a keybag nor user entry available)?
  2. Do recovery tools like UFS Explorer Standard, R-Studio, or Disk Drill offer capabilities for cases like this, where the password is known but metadata is compromised? Would using UFS Explorer Professional be the most viable option for recovery?

I am genuinely desperate for any guidance on resolving this issue, as the data on this SSD represents years of my hard work and is irreplaceable. If you’ve faced similar challenges or have any technological insights, please share your experiences.

Thank you immensely for your help. 🙏

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BCAdmin1 Comment on 2 questions: 1. How to test a Backup Windows System Image, to ensure it’ll actually recover your backed up data? 2. If your backup skips some files because they are deemed “corrupt”, what are your options? Thanks! 😊

One Comment

  1. Hi there,

    Dealing with APFS-encrypted volumes that have damaged cryptographic metadata can be quite challenging, especially when the usual unlock keys or recovery methods aren’t effective. Since your drive was abruptly disconnected during write operations, there’s a possibility that critical encryption metadata was corrupted or lost.

    Here are some steps and tips that might help:

    • Backup First: Before attempting any recovery, ensure that you have a complete clone of the affected drive using tools like ddrescue or Carbon Copy Cloner. This preserves the current state and prevents further damage.
    • Recovery Tools: While commercial tools like UFS Explorer Professional and R-Studio can sometimes recover data from damaged encrypted volumes, their success depends on the extent of corruption. UFS Explorer’s advanced modules may attempt to recover data even when crypto metadata is compromised, especially if you have the password.
    • Known Password Usage: If you have the correct password, some recovery software can use this to attempt to re-import or reconstruct missing encryption metadata. However, success can vary based on how damaged the metadata is.
    • Professional Data Recovery Services: For cases where the encryption metadata is irreparably damaged, it might be best to consult specialty data
    Reply

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