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Can't Access External Hard Drive - Access is denied.

portable hard drive accessing drive permissions data lost

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#1
danieltamy

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Hi,

 

I have a Seagate 5TB Expansion Desktop Drive which I haven't used for a year or so and when I tried to plug it into my laptop (Windows 10) I got the message "D:\ is not accessible. Access is denied". 

 

Hard Drive Access Error.PNG

 

I went into the properties of the drive and tried to the users with permissions under the Security tab and saw "You must have Read permissions to view the properties of this object".

 

Security tab message.PNG

 

I clicked on Advanced and tried to click on the Continue button just below "Click Continue to attempt the operation with administrative permissions" and got a new window with the message "You do not have permission to view or edit this object's permission settings".

 

Permissions message.PNG

 

I am an admin on this computer but I still can't access it. I have tried it on an older Windows 7 computer and I got the same messages. 

 

Can you guys please help with this as I have a lot of information on it and I don't want to lose it?

 

Thanks,

Daniel

 


Edited by danieltamy, 15 June 2021 - 04:09 AM.

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#2
RKinner

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Since it's a Seagate it's probably dead but let's see if we can see the SMART info.

 

Get the free version of Speccy:

http://www.filehippo...ownload_speccy/ 

(Look in the upper right for the Download
Latest Version button  - Do NOT press the large Start Download button on the upper left!)  
Download, Save and Install it.  Tell it you do not need CCLEANER.    Run Speccy.  When it finishes (the little icon in the bottom left will stop moving),
File, Save as Text File,  (to your desktop) note the name it gives. OK.  Open the file in notepad and delete the line that gives the serial number of your Operating System.  
(It will be near the top,  10-20  lines down.) Save the file.  Attach the file to your next post.  Attaching the log is the best option as it is too big for the forum.  Attaching is a multi step process.

First click on More Reply Options
Then scroll down to where you see
Choose File and click on it.  Point it at the file and hit Open.
Now click on Attach this file.

 

If it looks like the SMART info is present the drive may still be good enough to get some data off.

 

Get the free version of Recuva

https://www.ccleaner.com/recuva

See if it can see anything.

 

Also sometimes FRST can unlock the permissions.

 


  • Get FRST from http://www.bleepingc...very-scan-tool/You need to download the appropriate tool for your PC.  If you don't know if you have a 32 or 64 bit system get them both.  Only one will work and that's the right one.
  • Right click to run as administrator (XP users click run after receipt of Windows Security Warning - Open File). When the tool opens click Yes to disclaimer.
    [


Smart Screen, Windows Defender and Avast have all been blocking FRST recently.  It's a false positive so pause your antivirus when downloading or running FRST.  If you get a message saying Smart Screen has blocked it you can click on More Info and you will see an option to Run Anyway.

 

Create a text file with just the following text:

 

Unlock D:\

 

Save the file as fixlist  in the same folder as FRST.

 

Click Fix on the FRST program. 




 


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#3
danieltamy

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Hi, I run Speccy and got the attached file. I also run a disk check and repair in command prompt (chkdsk d: /f /r) and got the below which seems to have found the files on the drive. 

Disk Check & Repair in Command Prompt.PNG

 

I also run FRST and no luck (see below):

FRST result log.PNG

 

No luck with Recuva either as it couldn't scan any files on my external drive.

 

Interestingly enough, when I plug this into my Samsung Smart TV, I can access all the media files and they work fine. I played both videos and music. So I don't think the actual storage is affected. I still think it's something to do with permissions/settings.

 

 

Attached Files


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#4
RKinner

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For the FRST fixlist try:

 

Unlock: D:\

 

I left off the colon.


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#5
danieltamy

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Thanks, but in the end I managed to fix it without any external programme just with the command prompt chkdsk /f and then it finally allowed me to add a new owner to the disk in Properties through File Explorer and now I can access it fine.

Thanks for your help anyway. 


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