External SSD Locked by BitLocker After Restart

Hello,

I am experiencing an issue with my external SSD, which has been locked by BitLocker. I had to restart my work computer, and after the restart, the drive was automatically locked. I did not make any changes; I simply restarted the computer. Now, the drive is locked, and I am being prompted to enter a 48-digit recovery key, which I do not have.

Could you please advise me on what to do in this situation? Is there a location on my computer where I might be able to find the recovery key?

Thank you for your assistance.