[SOLVED] External HDD not accessible (files visible by other programs)

[WD_Cossack]

Hello all,


A few days ago, my external hard drive suddenly became unaccessible.

I tried running the: "chkdsk F: /f" command. It said that some repairs were made, but the problem continues.


I am confidant that the information on the hard drive is mostly intact since when I scan it with ESET or Malware Bytes, they go through all the files I have on the disk. Wile scanning, I can see them go through my folders without any issues.


I hope that you can help me solve this issue or at least help me extract all the data I have on that drive.


Thank you all in advance!

 

[rgd1101]

and what exact message you get when you try to access it?

 

[WD_Cossack]

Thank you very much for you reply.

The message I get is:
"E:\ is not accessible
Access is denied"

I tried connecting the drive to other computers, but I always get the same error message both on windows 7 and 10.
Also, I noticed that the drive installation, when I connect it to a new PC goes without a hitch.
I find it a bit strange that some programs can access it without any issues, but windows explorer cannot.
Maybe I should try some particular software which is able to access drive memory information and doesn't use windows explorer to do so?

 

[WD_Cossack]

Hello everyone,

IT from my work helped me solve the issue.
In case anyone else experience similar issue:
The problem originated from Access rights malfunctioning.
The solution was:

1. Log in as Administrator
2. Go to Access preferences of that drive
3. Remove current access permissions
4. Add permissions for System, Administrators and users
5. Wait for the completion of the process and that't it!

Now my HDD is functional again.
I have no idea as to why this happened, but I will make sure to backup my info every once in a while.

Thank you all for your time.

 

[Phillip Corcoran]

Thanks for the update - 😉