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External HDD suddenly locked by Bitlocker, but I never used Bitlocker! Never even heard of it until today!

Anonymous
2023-12-10T14:01:56+00:00

I have a "My Passport" external HDD. I use it to backup ALL my photos, and it is the only place my entire music (mp3s) library is stored.
It worked fine last night.
I opened up my laptop this morning, and got a message saying that the drive is locked and "Bitlocker protected," and it asks for some 48-digit key! I had no idea what this even meant, until I googled it and discovered the BAD NEWS.

I have never used Bitlocker. Nobody else uses this laptop (Dell). It worked fine last night. I left my computer on and it went to sleep; when I opened it this morning, my external HDD is now apparently LOCKED for no reason.

I've spent the last hour researching, and every post/thread I can find seems to imply that my HDD is now DEAD, and I've lost all my irreplaceable data -- DECADES (!!!!!!!!) of photos and music files that are IRREPLACEABLE.

I refuse to accept this. What is going on?
Microsoft's website says they can NOT open Bitlocked drives. But clearly they can LOCK the effing thing without permission or any action on the part of the user!!??????

I expect to hear from a Microsoft tech, explaining what I'm supposed to do and how this could have happened overnight.

Windows for home | Windows 11 | Files, folders, and storage

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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  1. Anonymous
    2024-07-11T21:56:40+00:00

    Same thing here, and now all this how to stuff and we are supposed to figure out wth you are talking about??? If we didn't know about BitLocker, how do you expect us to figure this out, to get our stuff back? How dare you steal my data; I have been working on a photo project for my deceased parents' history for months. Just all of a sudden there gone, your PACKAGAING OR ADVERTISING SAYS NOTHING ABOUT ANY OF THIS, NO WARNING, OR WATCH OUT YOU'LL LOSE. I am so sick of Microsoft protecting me from myself, Your two-step ****, why??? I'm 72 and I am the only one who uses my computer. I have spent more time trying to fix your mistakes than doing my own stuff. This stuff should be posted as a choice, do you want 2 step or not, do you want to lose a lifetime of photo's or not? I went through hell with your one drive, ended up with 3 and 4 copies of everything so I had to close it down, Like I said, why? I didn't need one drive, it's just me and I guess I will still be trying to figure it out when I leave this place. Thanks a lot, microsoft, I do hate you. My kids want to sue you, I told them go ahead, you'll probably figure a way to screw them y

    to make papers and information disappear.

    10+ people found this answer helpful.
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  2. Anonymous
    2024-09-03T14:48:55+00:00

    Could you please answer users questions after your post.?

    Why do Microsoft encrypts users data without their knowledge, on private computers not connected to domain.

    Thank you in advance

    9 people found this answer helpful.
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  3. Anonymous
    2024-01-27T03:15:00+00:00

    I had the same issue happen.

    Bitlocker unknowingly loaded on my external seagate hard drive.

    I don't care how or why, I want to get to my decades of pictures and videos.

    How do I bypass bitlocker?

    No recovery key or password to be found.

    I am livid right now.

    6 people found this answer helpful.
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  4. Anonymous
    2025-01-16T12:01:37+00:00

    Bitlocker locked my D: drive, i did'nt do anything...it locked on it's own....i just started a small business and all the legal and related files are there in my D: driveand bitlocker locked it ...i can find NO SETTINGS to put it off...literally nothing, tried everything available on the internet.

    cannot find anything to put it off....cmd..powershell..everything.

    It's just like i have to delete it all...and let go.

    What a pathetic feature by Microsoft.

    Microsoft gave me a reason to shift to MAC now.

    5 people found this answer helpful.
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  5. Anonymous
    2024-10-19T13:57:47+00:00

    I encountered it today and I really hate this feature. How come you take the liberty to lock all my drives without my permission? After I reinstalled my Windows, my D and E drives were locked. Why? Why do you have to put so much burden on users? I was completely in the dark. Why do you think it's a good thing to do in the first place?

    4 people found this answer helpful.
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