I’ve lost the password for my old (2009?) My Passport external drive and I just want to reuse the drive.on my Windows 10 computer. I don’t care that I will lose the data on the external drive. I read on another topic that if you just use the wrong password 5 - 10 times it will reset but that is not the case. It’s often mentioned in other topics that you can’t retrieve a lost password and you have to wipe the drive. How do I do that if I can’t access it?
Well, if you attach it to a PC via USB, the PC will detect its presence (you just can’t get into it w/out PW. You just select to format it as one normally formats a drive. Don’t know how? Then check Windows Help, or Google for info…
Before you format it though, try every password you could have likely used; you might get in! BTW, I never PW protect a drive; in some cases people have been locked out even if they know the PW. Who needs that hassle?
I have ONE password-protected file – it is a Word file with all my user names and passwords in it, along with other sensitive data.
This way, I ONLY NEED TO REMEMBER ONE PASSWORD FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE TO FIND ALL THE OTHER PASSWORDS, ETC. I NEED.
Hey @mike27oct, I would suggest a password manager like KeePass - I prefer it since it’s FOSS (Free and Open Source Software) and encrypts my file, so only I know how to access it.
For @rblack’s issue, If your computer recognises the drive, but format doesn’t seem to be available, try using Disk Utility (for Mac) or Disk Management (for Windows) and you can delete and recreate the partition on it. It’s rather brute force, but it’s a decent way to start from scratch. 
