Endpoint Encryption

Can anybody help me please? I am using PGP Desktop 10.1.2 build 9 for the mac, with OSX 10.6.8.

I have a pgpDisk on an external USB drive that I have been copying data to regularly. But now this specific virtual disk will no longer mount, even immediately after a PC reboot, with nothing else connected in the USB ports.

PGP accepts the password, and there are no error messages. But no icon ever appears for the encrypted volume. The first time I tried, an icon did appear within Apple's disk utility, but it was not mountable.

I have tried a few times to reboot the mac, click on the virtual disk image, enter the password, but it is the same every time.

What clever tricks are available to diagnose this and/or to recover my  data?

Thanks, Paul

Is there any Mac-based disk repair utility that can recognize pgp virtual disks? This seems like a basic question that someone should know the answer to.

DiskWarrior (AlSoft) informs me that theirs does not.

Thanks a lot, Paul

I am not aware of a disk repair utility that will work for a PGP encrypted virtual disk.  It is a file, so not a traditional disk, and like other files it can become corrupted.  Hopefully this is not what you are experiencing.

Take a copy of the virtual disk to another system with PGP installed.  Same version and OS would be preferred if possible.  See if it will open there.  If not, it is likely a file-related issue, not a program or system issue.

Can I use WDE command line tool to try to repair it? Please remember that it does accept the passphrase without error and therefore does nominally decrypt, but on the Mac, and 'Disk utility' only shows the virtual drive (with Disk#), but it fails to mount a volume. This suggests to me a Master Boot Record issue that should be repairable using either WDE command line or SpinRite, is that correct?

I need an answer. This is simply an issue of the Mac freezing while writing to a pgp Virtual Disk, which is a problem that it seems everybody has had at some point (and I assume this is why the command line tool was added to WDE) so somebody should be able to advise.

Thanks,

Paul

Would it be beneficial to try to decrypt using PGPWDE command line interface?

Please be aware that this virtual disk seems to decrypt without error on the Mac: There is no overt error message after entering the passphrase, and after passphrase entry, MacOS's Disk Utility shows an image for the pgp virtual disk (named 'PGP Corporation ... "), with an assigned disk#, but the encrypted volume does not mount.

It seems to me that the master boot record is corrupted on the pgp virtual disk. This may have been a common problem among pgp users when the Mac's file copy function/dialog freezes while writing to a pgp virtual disk, with no way to unmount the drive prior to rebooting the Mac. This phenomenon is perhaps why the command line tool, (with some extra decrypt options?) was included in PGPWDE?

MBR corruption is listed here:

https://support.symantec.com/en_US/article.TECH149679.html

as a possible incentive to decrypt at the command line, but I am not clear on all the options it provides.

Thanks, Paul