How to unlock a write-protected USB drive?

So, about 6 or 7 years ago, I went ahead and slapped a password on an old thumb drive—Windows 7 basically nudged me to do it the first time I plugged it in.
Fast forward to today, I stumble upon this thing in a drawer, only to realize my memory is shot and I have zero clue what the password is. Now I'm staring at this BitLocker prompt asking for the code, and under "more options," it's demanding a 48-digit recovery key, giving me this specific Key ID: 5BA88611 in parentheses.
Does anyone out there have any bright ideas on how I can crack this password and actually get to the files on the drive?

Aaron Carter2 said:So, about 6 or 7 years ago, I went ahead and slapped a password on an old thumb drive—Windows 7 basically nudged me to do it the first time I plugged it in.
Fast forward to today, I stumble upon this thing in a drawer, only to realize my memory is shot and I have zero clue what the password is. Now I'm staring at this BitLocker prompt asking for the code, and under "more options," it's demanding a 48-digit recovery key, giving me this specific Key ID: 5BA88611 in parentheses.
Does anyone out there have any bright ideas on how I can crack this password and actually get to the files on the drive?

Just right-click the drive in My Computer and hit format, man.

Lawrence Barnes64 said:Just right-click the drive in My Computer and hit format, man.

Tried that, but that's basically just nuking everything on the drive. If I actually wanted to wipe the slate clean, I wouldn't be asking how to get my photos back.😢

Unfortunately, that’s really the whole point of encryption—making sure the password can't be cracked. I'm guessing you don't have the recovery key either, so... yeah, those data are probably gone for good.

Aaron Carter2 said:Tried that, but that's basically just nuking everything on the drive. If I actually wanted to wipe the slate clean, I wouldn't be asking how to get my photos back.😢

I mean, just think about what kind of stuff is sitting on that drive if someone actually bothered to set a password.😁 It's a bummer, but there really isn't a way out of this one... either you format the whole thing, or you spend some serious time staring at a thumb drive and praying for a miracle.🤣