Exterior storage gadgets are normally the place customers retailer their backups, however what occurs in case you encounter an “Exterior Onerous Drive Entry Denied” error on Home windows when attempting to entry yours? A number of variations of this error embody “Location is just not accessible, Entry is denied,” or “Location or drive is just not accessible.” All of them point out an issue together with your PC or laborious drive. This information takes you thru the causes and options.
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What Causes Entry Denied for Onerous Drive Error in Home windows?
It’s tough to pinpoint the precise error inflicting this downside due to the big selection of things inflicting it. Among the most frequent causes of this error message are listed under:
Broken exterior laborious drive cable
Corrupt file system
Entry to the exterior laborious drive is just not permitted
1. Strive the Error-Checking Instrument
There may be an error-checking function in Home windows that lets you pinpoint the reason for your exterior drive issues.
Click on on the Begin menu and choose the File Explorer app. Click on on “This PC.” Proper-click in your exterior laborious drive and choose “Properties.”
Go to the “Instruments” tab and click on the “Verify” button within the “Error checking” part.
Choose “Restore Drive.”
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2. Give Entry Permission to the Exterior Onerous Drive
Typically Home windows’s strict protecting insurance policies could get in the way in which of accessing exterior laborious drives, however you may merely repair this by altering permission settings, as proven under.
Open File Explorer and click on on “This PC.” Carry up your exterior laborious drive’s Properties.
Go to the “Safety” tab and click on on “Edit.”
Search for your profile title below “Group or Consumer names” and click on on it.
Be sure you’ve ticked the entire “Permit” column containers, together with “Full management,” then click on “Apply.”
Click on “OK” to get full entry of the exterior laborious drive.
3. Modify the Drive Letter
Drive letters are routinely assigned to exterior storage gadgets. When a tool’s path modifications, it turns into unavailable. Altering the drive letter in disk administration helps to reconfigure the modification.
Sort “Disk Administration” in Home windows Search and choose the “Create and format laborious disk partitions” choices.
Find the inaccessible exterior laborious drive and right-click on the partition. Among the many choices, choose “Change Drive Letter and Path.”
Hit the “Change” button within the following window.
Click on “OK” after deciding on the brand new drive letter.
4. Verify Disk Utility
If you’re not sure whether or not file system points are inflicting your exterior laborious drive to be inaccessible in Home windows, run the examine disk utility.
Proper-click on the Begin menu and choose “Home windows Terminal (Admin).”
Sort the next command, then hit Enter . Make sure that to interchange the “g” together with your exterior laborious disk letter.
chkdsk g: / f
The device will scan, repair issues and allow you to know if it has discovered an even bigger downside that it will possibly’t deal with.
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5. Format the Exterior Onerous Drive
Merely formatting the exterior laborious drive is without doubt one of the greatest methods to resolve the entry denied error. It will take away your whole knowledge. Nonetheless, you may merely recuperate your knowledge in case you format the drive with Fast Format and scan it with a knowledge restoration utility.
Open “Disk Administration” as proven beforehand. Proper-click in your exterior drive and choose the “Format” possibility. On the affirmation immediate, choose “Sure.”
Choose “Carry out a Fast Format” and click on “OK -> Sure.”
6. Use One other Laptop and Verify the Cable
A damaged USB port or poorly linked cables are often at blame when you may’t entry your exterior laborious drive. To find out whether or not that is the case and resolve the problem, attempt the next:
Join your HDD on to your motherboard’s USB ports and keep away from utilizing any splitters or docks. Exchange the USB wire, then reconnect the drive.
Picture supply: Amazon
Join the exterior laborious drive to a distinct pc and examine to see whether or not the disk entry continues to be denied. Don’t neglect to all the time take excellent care of your cables.
Often Requested Questions
How can I examine my laborious drive’s well being stats? Verify Disk Utility is one of the simplest ways to examine your laborious drive’s well being. Plus, it’ll repair any points in your laborious drive, in the end fixing inaccessibility points. To learn to deploy this utility, examine resolution #4. There are additionally different methods to examine laborious disk well being on Home windows. Be aware that these strategies goal inside laborious drives.
Can I join my exterior laborious drive to a Mac? In fact, you may join your exterior laborious drive to your Mac utilizing Thunderbolt, USB, or USB-C cables.
Ought to I get an SSD to keep away from the “Exterior Onerous Drive Entry Denied” problem? SSDs are generally used as inside storage gadgets, however you can even use moveable SSDs externally. These storage gadgets trigger fewer issues than HDDs, so you should still encounter points with SSDs, however the chances are comparatively decrease, as the info learn and write mechanism is totally totally different.
Picture credit score: Pexels. All screenshots by Farhad Pashaei.
Farhad Pashaei As a technophile, Farhad has spent the final decade getting hands-on expertise with quite a lot of digital gadgets, together with smartphones, laptops, equipment, wearables, printers, and so forth. When he isn’t writing, you may wager he’s devouring data on merchandise making their market foray, demonstrating his unquenchable thirst for expertise.