Decypting hard drive (usb)

[Tech198]

Decrypting my USB3 4TB external WD hard drive, i'm getting kinda confused.. Shouldn't the files still be encrypted even during decryption phase?

Disk Utility shows "Mac OS Extended Journaled (Encrypted)", yet when i unplug and re-plug usb dive into Mac, I do *not* get prompted for password..

Dies this mean its the drive is actually unencrypted, and i can ignore Terminal and Disk Utility ? I can access files just fine.. regardless.

Mac OS Catalina 10.15.7

 

[Tech198]

I would think it's ok to copy files from this drive, because it must be unlocked (which it is) in order to be mounted n the first place... The concern is mainly why Mac *thinks* it needs decrypting.

Perhaps encrypting with files stored on device already, is different than creating encrypted partition from scratch on empty drive (which is what i did) ? *shrugs*