How to format an external drive encrypted with Disk Utility?

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Dear all,

I have recently upgraded to a SSD in one of my macs with the intention of using the old HDD in an enclosure for Time Machine backups. Whilst formatting the old HDD in Disk Utility, however, I accidentally encrypted the whole drive (or at least most of it) with a 'random' password. I do not seem to be able to format the HDD again in Disk Utility due to the encryption.

I should be most grateful for any help and advice so that I might format the encrypted HDD and use it in an enclosure for Time Machine backups.

Kind regards,

Macbook2012 :Blushing:
 

chscag

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2017 27" iMac, 10.5" iPad Pro, iPhone 8, iPhone 11, iPhone 12 Mini, Numerous iPods, Monterey
Unless you can remember that random password to decrypt the drive, you will be unable to do anything with it.
 

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