Apple: How to gain access to the Hard Drive without password (Mac OS only)

Hi guys!


In case any one of you are having problems remembering your password, here is an easy tutorial to access your files. Afterwards you can just re-install the OS and you are back on track!

Step 1: Create a Bootable USB Stick (or Hard Drive)

For troubleshooting Apple computers (and of course data storage) I am using a 3TB external Hard Drive. I divided it in partitions, most of it for storage and a few Gigabyte for different bootable OSX types. That means I can plug my Hard Drive into any Apple computer and start it, using the operating system installed on my Hard Drive.


Step 2: With your USB Stick or Hard Drive plugged in, start the computer and press & hold the ALT button.

Now you can choose from which Hard Drive you want to start the operating system, you choose the OS one on the Hard Drive. Looks something like this.


As soon as the system is up, open the Finder and voilà - you can click and access the internal Hard Drive and transfer the data to the empty storage space.



Simple as that.
I stumbled over this by accident, never had to bypass a password but since Apple and the FBI are putting up a show, I just had to share this one.



Gonna add pictures as soon as possible.

Cheers,
D.

Nice post.

Not exactly, the home folder of the users on the internal drive will not be accessible through the finder. And that is the most likely location of files you will be interested in.
And if filevault is activated on the drive you won't get any access.

originally posted by: Jubei42
Not exactly, the home folder of the users on the internal drive will not be accessible through the finder. And that is the most likely location of files you will be interested in.
And if filevault is activated on the drive you won't get any access.

I totally forgot about this thread. Thank you for your input, I'll redo the process and post my results.