Solve the problem of Access is Denied when connecting the flash drive and external hard drive to the computer
External storage drives and solutions are a safe haven to keep a backup copy of all our data. But what would be your reaction if you connected your hard drive to your computer and tried to open it and then you were surprised by an error message that says Access is denied , which means that you are not allowed to access the contents of the hard drive? Don’t panic, we have many solutions in our bag to help you overcome this problem easily, not only on the external hard drive, but on any of the storage drives connected to your computer.
But before we get into the suggested set of solutions, just make sure that you have not locked the hard drive with the Bitlocker program built into Windows.
You can check this by right-clicking on the storage disk and selecting Unlock, then entering the password you previously set to open the contents of the hard drive. In other cases, the Access is denied problem may appear as a result of the hard drive being infected with viruses or damage to the structure and kernel of the basic system files of the hard drive, which resulted in Windows not being able to deal with the hard drive in the way it should be.
| Solve the problem of Access Denied when connecting the external hard drive to the computer |
If you want personal advice before starting, try to rely on any of the deleted file recovery programs to recover the important data on the hard drive and keep it in a safe place because if we fail to be able to access the hard drive again, there will be no other way but to perform a complete format of the hard drive.
If the Access is denied problem is just an occasional problem, unfortunately we do not know what is the reason for the development of this problem, and we cannot identify a single reason for it or suggest a single radical solution to overcome it. Instead, we will try to provide you with a set of positive solutions to overcome this problem to restore the ability to open the hard drive and access its contents again.
First: Check the hard disk from the file explorer to solve the problem Access is Denied
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| Check hard drive from file explorer |
As we mentioned in the introduction a little while ago, it is difficult to determine the cause of the Access is denied problem when trying to access the contents of the external hard drive due to the endless list of reasons. However, one of the most common causes of this problem is damage to the connection cables used, whether it is the power cable, the SATA cable, or the USB cable.
It is also possible that the system file structure is corrupted causing the Access is Denied error message. Or you may not be allowed to access the hard drive due to user account restrictions imposed by the operating system. But the first thing you can do is try to repair the system files through the Check tool built into the main Windows interface inside the File Explorer.
- Go to File Explorer and right click on the storage drive.
- Select Properties from the drop-down menu and then go to the Tools tab at the top.
- After that click on Check option and then choose Repair Drive and wait until the repair process is finished.
Second: Grant access to the contents of the hard disk
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| Grant access to the contents of the external hard drive |
Sometimes Windows imposes strict security policies and permissions that prevent you from being able to access the contents of some storage drives on your computer. It is not clear what caused this problem to develop in the first place, but it is likely that the wrong permissions and permissions on the storage drives are causing your access to the hard drive to be restricted. However, it is easy to fix this problem if it is the reason for your access to the contents of the hard drive to be restricted.
- Open File Explorer and right-click on the storage drive.
- From the drop-down menu, select Properties and then click on the Security tab at the top.
- From this window click Edit and under Group or user name: Start by searching for your user account name.
- Click on your user account name with the left mouse button once.
- From the bottom of the Permissions for Administrators section, enable all the options from below Allow.
- Then click on the Ok button from the bottom.
Third: Change the drive letter
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| Change the drive letter |
In this method, we will be using the Windows built-in Disk Management tool. Both internal and external storage drives are automatically assigned a special letter by Windows. But if Windows assigns the wrong letter to the external storage drive, so that this letter conflicts with other storage drives connected to the computer, then you may not be able to access the hard drive and your access to it will be restricted until you change the drive letter to a correct one. This is very likely the problem that is preventing you from accessing the hard drive.
- Right-click on the Windows logo icon on the taskbar.
- Select Disk Management from the pop-up menu.
- Right click on the name of the external hard drive located in the left section.
- Choose Change Drive Letter and Paths.
- Then from the pop-up window choose Change.
- Now in front of Assign the following drive letter change the letter of the hard drive to another letter.
- Then click on the Ok button from the bottom and close Disk Management.
Fourth: Repair the hard disk using the CHKDSK tool
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Repair hard drive with CHKDSK tool |
If all the previous attempts failed to remove the restrictions and get rid of the Access is denied problem, then there is likely to be corruption in the basic hard disk system files. In this case, you can use the CHKDSK tool to search for the problem and get a comprehensive report of the cause and try to fix it automatically.
Right-click on the Windows logo icon and select Terminal (Admin) from the pop-up menu.
If this option is not available to you, choose Windows Terminal (Admin) instead. Or simply open the command prompt CMD with administrator privileges.
Type the following command chkdsk *: /f but replace the asterisk * with the letter of your external storage drive. For example, if your hard drive letter is G, the command should be: chkdsk G: /f and then press Enter key to enter the command line. This tool will automatically start scanning and fixing errors on your hard drive and will give you a complete report with the possible causes of the problem.
Finally: Format the hard drive.
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| Format the hard drive |
If all your attempts fail, then all you have left is to format the hard drive. Yes, this means that all data on the hard drive will be deleted. But rest assured, by using any of the deleted file recovery programs or tools, you can recover all your data again, but remember to start recovering the data immediately after finishing the formatting before you start writing any new data to the hard drive. It is preferable to disconnect the Internet in this case and not browse just to be on the safe side.
- Right-click on the Windows logo icon and select Disk Management.
- From below Volume, right-click on the letter of the hard drive and choose Format.
- Accept the warning message by clicking Yes.
- From the Format pop-up window, make sure that the Quick Format option is enabled as shown in the previous example image.
- Finally click Ok to start the formatting process.