> When does encrypted data become inaccessible? When you encrypted them or when you forgot the password?
Inaccessible to which party? It becomes inaccessible to anyone without the key immediately and inaccessible to anyone with the key when they forget the key.
Compare the situation where a person commits a document to memory and then destroys it, but writes down some inscrutable clues to help them remember it. You have some gibberish you can't decipher, if you give them the gibberish they can recreate the original document, but it's only by application of information that exists only in their mind.
Inaccessible to which party? It becomes inaccessible to anyone without the key immediately and inaccessible to anyone with the key when they forget the key.
Compare the situation where a person commits a document to memory and then destroys it, but writes down some inscrutable clues to help them remember it. You have some gibberish you can't decipher, if you give them the gibberish they can recreate the original document, but it's only by application of information that exists only in their mind.