Windows can't access disk drive

Hello Roger,

I can understand the inconvenience you have experienced. However, I really appreciate your efforts towards resolving the issue.

In order to understand the issue more clearly, I would request you to provide me with the following information.

1. Are you having issues with accessing external hard drive?
2. Are you getting any****error message/code? **** If yes, what is the exact error message?

There is a possibility that the issue might have occurred due to corruptions in the hard drive or there is an issue with the permissions.

I would suggest you to try the following methods and check if it helps.

Method 1:

How to change Drive Letter in Windows 8.1, please follow the steps in the link given below.

• Press Windows key + R to open run box.
• Type Diskmgmt.msc in the box, and then hit the Enter key to open Disk Management.
• Once Disk Management is launched, right-click on the drive whose drive letter you wish to change and then click Change Drive Letter and Paths option. This action will open Change Drive Letter and Paths dialog box.

For instance, if you want to change the drive letter of a drive from ‘R’ to ‘S’, you need to right-click on drive ‘R’.

• Here, click Change button. Note that if the Change button is greyed out or not available, you need to select the drive letter first.
• Select an available drive letter from the drop-down menu and then click OK button to change the drive letter.
• Click on the Yes button when you see “Some programs that rely on drive letters might not run correctly. Do you want to continue” warning message to change the drive letter.

If the issue still persists, please follow method 2.

Method 2:

We need to run check disk and check if it helps.

**Check disk (chkdsk) runs when you start Windows 8,**please follow the steps in the link below.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2854570

You can also try the check disk utility from command prompt and check if it makes any difference.  

• In the desktop screen, press Windows key + R.
• Type: CMD, right click CMD then click Run as administrator.
• At the Command Prompt, type: chkdsk /r /f
• Exit the command prompt.
• When you restart your system, your computer will be scanned for errors and attempts will be made to correct them.

Important: While performing chkdsk on the hard drive if any bad sectors are found on the hard drive when chkdsk tries to repair that sector if any data available on that might be lost.

I hope this information is helpful.

Please do let us know if you need any further assistance, we will be glad to assist you.

Thank you.