Internal Hard Drives, access denied.

[Tayron]

So, I've googled this one, and searched around the forums, and can't seem to find this particular problem. Since this does not seem to be a simple user permissions issue.
I'm running windows 7 64-bit

Basically, my computer has decided in the past few days, it will not let me alter any files in the root directory of any of my internal hard drives. (It does not effect my external drives at all.)

I can add files, rename them. copy and paste them, delete them...
But if I try, say, opening a word document I saved to my root C drive, and try resaving it to that same root directory (even if I make no changes at all.) it flat out says access denied. Or that the directory is read only. This applies to picture files as well, and I imagine any others.
I say access denied or read only because I get conflicting answers. Wordpad and notepad say access denied, MS Word, and Paint Shop Pro say it is read only.

I have changed none of my settings recently, and just the other day had no issues altering files in the root directory of two of the internal drives. I've checked all the uses permissions, logged in as admin and all, and still the same problem.
Needless to say, I'm at an utter loss here and have absolutely no idea what is going on here.

[edit] for the time being, completely disabling the User Account Control center circumvents the problem...but doesn't help me understand why it suddenly started doing what it's doing.

 

[SuperSoph_WD]

Hey there, Tayron!

I'd recommend you to try taking ownership of your files and folders using these tutorials from MS:
http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/2808-take-ownership-file-folder-drive-registry-key-windows-8-a.html
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1911-take-ownership-shortcut.html

Another thing you should consider doing is scanning your PC for malware/viruses.

Keep me posted! Hope this works!
SuperSoph_WD

 

[Tayron]

Done and done already, neither option did anything. Ownership was never changed, but I reclaimed them anyways, just in case. (Am well versed in this, since I had to do it when I transplanted an old HD into my new computer a year ago.)
And scans didn't find anything amiss.

 

[SuperSoph_WD]

I see, what about this solution here: http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_vista-hardware/hard-drive-access-denied-error-message/c8c8055b-02ce-450f-a412-542cb710e807?auth=1 ?
Another thing you could try if this doesn't work either, is to back up all your data from the drive on an external or some other drive and re-format that one. If it's the primary OS drive, you can create a Windows Recovery CD or maybe even restore the OS back its default state (however this would erase all your software and data, so please make sure you don't lose anything important). http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/restore-refresh-reset-pc

Hope it helps. Let me know how it goes!
SuperSoph_WD

 

[Tayron]

Changing permissions was the first thing I tried unfortunately, but to no avail. I'm even logged in as the admin, and that didn't matter at all.
It DOES appear to be UAC related somehow though, because completely disabling the UAC circumvents the issue...but I for the life of me cannot figure out what caused it. All the user accounts are set to allow full control, all the ownerships are correct, for all intents and purposes this should not be happening.

One day it worked. The next it didn't. And I haven't changed those settings since I first installed the OS a year ago.

It's also effecting all three of my internal drives (more than 3tb worth of data) so reformatting them really isn't an option I'm willing to try.
At this point I'm inclined to leave the UAC disabled and be done with it.

 

[SuperSoph_WD]

Well, Tayron! I guess you can try disabling the UAC and see how it goes from there. However, keep in mind that afterwards you might be facing issues with some applications (usually those that make system changes), which work correctly when UAC is turned on. Disabling it might cause certain user settings and files (from those apps) to be installed to a different place. Even if you turn UAC back on, they still might not work correctly.

I have another idea, though. If your massive data is so important and it's stored on a different storage HDD, you might also try disconnecting those data drives from the SATA ports and re-format only the booting/primary OS hard drive. Once the fresh install is completed, you can simply plug back the secondary HDDs and you should be able to access your files on your pre-installed Windows. But you should definitely disconnect the HDDs and leave only the primary drive plugged to the motherboard during the installation process.
However, you'd still need to re-install your software though.

Keep me posted.
SuperSoph_WD

 

[BorgOvermind]

The problem may be more simple than assumed.
Did you try to remove the read-only file attributes ?
After this is done, then you can talk ownership.
Also be aware that share/user ownership is different from security/NTFS ownership. You have to alter both setting in order to correctly set your file access modes.

 

[Tayron]

I'd rather not resort to reformatting for an issue that doesn't seem to require such drastic measures. Killing the UAC fixes it, but ideally, I'd find out why it suddenly started acting up in the first place.
Because between today, and last week (when everything worked just fine), I never touched those settings. So to me there is no logical reason it should be doing this, and I'd rather find out the cause,so in case it does this again I can fix it without blowing the whole thing and starting from scratch.

And as I've said above, nothing is marked read only. All ownerships are correct. All security settings are correct. Those were the very first things I did.

 

[SuperSoph_WD]

That's great then, Tayron! Well, have you installed any new software since last week? Windows Updates? Anything that could have affected the system in such a way?
If disabling the UAC works, then re-formatting would be too drastic indeed. However, if you have restore points from previous system states when the problem wasn't present, you can use this Windows option instead and hopefully solve your issue. Here's an article from MS that explains more about it: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa378910%28v=vs.85%29.aspx?f=255&MSPPError=-2147217396

Hope it helps. Best of luck!
SuperSoph_WD

 

[Tayron]

No updates or anything though, just some games. Nothing I can imagine triggering such a strange problem. Might give the restore a go though, just for kicks, though not sure I've got a recent one handy.