Question Can't write to new external hard drive when plugged into laptop but works fine on PC?

[masty88]

Hi all,

I just bought a new WD 18tb Elements drive & when I plug it into my older laptop (Windows 10), I can't change the drive letter, create folders or rename it. However, if I plug it into my other Windows 10 device (desktop computer), it works fine & I can write to it. I've tried other ports in my laptop & other external hard drives work just fine. I also tried giving it write access etc on CMD Command Prompt.

At one point it randomly started working properly in the laptop but after disconnecting it the issue has returned.

When I try to rename the drive it gives me the error 'Invalid drive label. The disk is write protected'.

Any ideas as to what I'm doing wrong?

Thanks!

 

[masty88]

Hi all,

I just bought a new WD 18tb Elements drive & when I plug it into my older laptop (Windows 10), I can't change the drive letter, create folders or rename it. However, if I plug it into my other Windows 10 device (desktop computer), it works fine & I can write to it. I've tried other ports in my laptop & other external hard drives work just fine. I also tried giving it write access etc on CMD Command Prompt.

At one point it randomly started working properly in the laptop but after disconnecting it the issue has returned.

When I try to rename the drive it gives me the error 'Invalid drive label. The disk is write protected'.

Any ideas as to what I'm doing wrong?

Thanks!

Ok, I managed to fix it (for now) by using diskpart again. I don't understand why it worked fine on my other device though?