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Windows 10 - Access denied on external hard drive

Anonymous
2018-04-04T09:41:36+00:00

I have 3 different hard drives, a 1Tb, a 2Tb and a 4Tb hard drive. I have just moved from a Mac of faithful service for 10 years. Before leaving the Mac, I backed up all of my data. Initially on FAT32 formatted hard drives, as that was all the Mac would allow, and then on hard drives formatted on Windows machines, with the NTFS file system. I can plug the hard drives into any other computer, and the data is still there, just where I left it. However, as soon as I plug it into my new Windows machine, I get the error message : Access Denied. 

I have been through the process of trying to regain access privileges, from going through the security tabs and trying to enable access on the current users on the hard drive, through to adding an administrator user to give me access. No joy.

I have tried re-formatting the hard drives, figuring maybe the format is not compatible (unlikely, they work on any other computer, ranging from Windows 7 through to a different machine running Windows 10). I get temporary access, insofar as I have full access until I unplug the hard drive (after properly ejecting it - I have been using a Mac for 10 years, and boy, do Macs get grumpy if you don't eject properly!). As soon as I plug the hard drive back in, I get the access denied error message. 

I have tried the Command Prompt / powershell option of "takeown" - still no joy. I keep getting an error message, and the power shell hangs, and doesn't complete the task - even after 10 minutes.

The error message is not for individual files, but for the entire hard drive. I can't even get into the root of the hard drive in the folder system to see what is going on. I have absolutely no access.

Does anyone have any other ideas, or thoughts on how I can wrest control and access for these drives back from the system.

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Files, folders, and storage

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Anonymous
2018-04-04T20:28:32+00:00

So I have a couple of links (you seem savvy enough to navigate through them instead of me retyping everything)

Check this one out for possible fixes - https://www.easeus.com/computer-instruction/ext...

Next one, any chance your new PC is an HP?

https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Business-Notebook...

"Hi - so i have the same machine and problem. figured it had to be security related because a memory stick works. long story short... the culprit is HP Client Security app.

open it, then goto device permissions down the bottom.

then edit the removable media section. note the admin and standard user tabs.

mine now works and to be honest its a cool feature when you finally know what the intent is."

Figured that might be helpful. Good luck and let me know!

  • C

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  1. Anonymous
    2018-04-04T18:14:03+00:00

    Hi Sarah,

    The issue isn't the data - all other Windows machines can access the data. The drives were in NTFS format (I had a program on my Mac that let it talk to Windows formatted drives). I've re-formatted the drives, both on my machine, and on a couple of different machines of friends who are running Windows 10. 

    Unfortunately, when you are talking of 50 Gb of music (among other things), the cloud is not really a viable option.

    As I had been using computers at work that are all Windows machines, having everything Windows accessible was necessary, so it really shouldn't have been an issue. Except it is.

    I agree, why Apple and Windows can't just facilitate ease of data transportation is beyond me...

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  2. Anonymous
    2018-04-04T18:08:03+00:00

    Hi Charlie,

    Thanks for your response. I have continued to try and sort this out, but the issue continues. I can now tell you that it doesn't matter what device I use, be it an external hard drive or a USB stick, I get the "Access is denied" error message. 

    I have one USB stick that I use for work, which I plugged into the laptop, unable to access. I ejected it, took it out of the laptop, and asked a friend to check it in his machine - also running Windows 10. It opened up, no issues, no hassles, data is all safe and accounted for.

    I have used a different friends laptop to transfer data off one of the hard drives, which I have re-formatted - 3 different times!! - and while I can put use it with her laptop, mine won't allow access to the disk. This afternoon, I tried re-formatting one of the USB sticks, and it was fine in the laptop for about 10 minutes, then Windows summarily (to me!) decided to lock it down and deny access. I hadn't moved the USB stick, it was still plugged into the laptop, and I hadn't restarted the computer.

    Yes, I've tried Disk Management to reformat. I've deleted the volumes, re-initialised the volumes, changed partition sizes, you name it, I've tried it in Disk Management, including assigning different drive letters and all. No joy.

    Unfortunately, going back to the old Mac is impossible - it died, completely. No resurrections were possible for it. I tried.

    So short answer is:

    1. No, I can't try going back to the Mac to access / sort out permissions. Reformatting has always worked in the past for that anyway, so I'd be surprised if that was the issue.
    2. All hard drives and USB sticks have the same issue.
    3. Re-formatting, using either the Disk Management utility or the pop-up menu has no effect on the permissions accessibility.
    4. The drives / USB sticks all function perfectly with other computers. My flat mate has a Mac, and even she can access the files. Just not me...

    I'm wondering if the issue is in the laptop, not the drives / USB sticks, and if there is a setting somewhere in the laptop that I need to change to allow the USB hub / drivers to access the ports. And before you ask, yes, I have updated the USB drivers, I've uninstalled them and re-booted to make Windows install clean drivers, asked the drivers individually to check if they are up-to-date. They all claim they are...

    Any further ideas / thoughts / suggestions will be welcome

    Thanks

    Buffy

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  3. Anonymous
    2018-04-04T13:06:09+00:00

    I had this issue awhile back.

    The only thing I could do was put the data temporarily in a cloud drive.

    Then format the drives from my windows 10 machines.

    Then pull the data back down off the cloud back to my drives.

    When going from apple to Microsoft or vice versa it is like they purposely sabotage things and make it so difficult. I have now given up with USB drives between my mac and PC. I just use onedrive.

    Sorry for your troubles, and trust me I know how you feel.

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  4. Anonymous
    2018-04-04T10:26:53+00:00

    Hi Buffy-Marie,

    I’m sorry you’re having these issues, but I’m sure we can work through them. Couple of questions.

    What one of the drives is giving you the problems? Do you still have access to your Mac? I’m wondering if we take the data off temporarily (if it’s not too much) so we can try to reformat once again.

    Have you tried to you disk management with windows 10 to reformat?

    Let me know and we’ll move forward. Look forward to working with you!

    • C

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