Windows 10 Pro - Cannot Read BitLocker-encrypted external SSD (Kingston A2000)

Question

I have previously (successfully) encrypted an external SSD (PCI-e NVME) with BitLocker and it worked well for a while.

Today, upon plugging in, an error message saying that it couldn't read the volume and suggested me to format the drive.

I have tried uninstalling Intel Rapid Storage Technology and restarted but it didn't solve the issue.

Appreciate some help here. Thanks.

Answer 1

Update

Message:
You need to format the disk in drive D: before you can use it.
Do you want to format it?
Format disk / Cancel

I have also set Bitlocker in services.msc to "start" and set it to run automatically. No difference there.