Encrypting External Drive problem

[bluesman409]

I'm wondering if I messed up while encrypting one of my external drives.
I'm using the encryption program that came with the OS.
Anyway, I went through the process of encrypting the drive, entered a new password, the drive disappeared from my screen (expected)
so I went to disk utility and asked to mount the newly encrypted drive. It asked me for my password and after giving it, the icon
appeared as I expected. I assumed the encrypting process was finished and ejected the drive and shut down my computer for the night.
When I opened the drive the next day I noticed it said "Encrypting back up drive" as if it was still in the process of encrypting.
I opened my photo album and noticed several jpgs which wouldn't open "file damaged...." and quite a few were missing sections of the
picture altogether. Did I permanently damage these files by shutting down my computer prematurely (before the encrypting process was
actually finished) or will these be corrected by letting the encryption process continue until completed?
Sorry about the rambling question.
BTW I'm using High Sierra 10.13.6 on a mid 2010 Mac Pro.
Thanks!

 

[chscag]

Welcome to our forums.

You've nothing more to lose by allowing the encryption process to finish. However, there is a chance that files were damaged if you ejected the drive prior to the encryption process finishing. FileVault encryption for external drives is a very slow process because you're not only dealing with the encryption but also the slow transfer of data back and forth via USB.

 

[bluesman409]

Thanks for the reply.
That's what I was afraid of. I'm surprised there was no warning of some sort regarding the possibility of damaging the files if shut down.
Oh well, I know better now.
Thanks!