Win10 2004 suddenly removed access to multiple external hard drives. In desperate need of help [ cannot find a solution :( ]

Hey dude,

Did you ever get a solution to your problem? 

I had the same issue with a drive for my father and used powershell to sort it out. 

With the drive plugged in type in "CD X:/"

Where X is the drive letter for the drive trying to gain access to. 

Then type "TAKEOWN /R /F *"

Should take awhile as it changes ownership. 

Then type "ICACLS * /T /Q /C /RESET"

Hopefully this helps? 

Thank you for that info. Keeping that close by in case I run into the issue again to try. However, It's been some time since this happened. I had lost a good amount of data that was unrecoverable, but recovered a good amount. I lost access multiple times but eventually figured out how to avoid the terrible programming/coding issues with Win10, with my drives.

Hey dude,

Did you ever get a solution to your problem? 

I had the same issue with a drive for my father and used powershell to sort it out. 

With the drive plugged in type in "CD X:/"

Where X is the drive letter for the drive trying to gain access to. 

Then type "TAKEOWN /R /F *"

Should take awhile as it changes ownership. 

Then type "ICACLS * /T /Q /C /RESET"

Hopefully this helps?

Man, I get the same problem, I have a computer with w10 ver 1803 and w7 in another pc and the hard drive works fines, but when I put it in a w10 2004 gave me the same error. I tried to change user security, but it's totally block to insert a new user. I really don't know what to do anymore... Thx!!  

Have you had any luck with this? Hope your drive is accessible again!

Reading through this thread I spotted that you reported your computer was an HP. This actually could be the root cause of this error. Other HP users reported errors accessing external drives and this was caused by a “security feature” that the HP system management had set. You can google to find the exact steps to resolve. 

Ted

My HP doesn't seem to be an issue. I'm sure a security feature is not the reason for my the numerous problems I've encountered with different versions of Windows. Along with others encountering the same issues. With every new version, the problems get worse, not better nor less. The way 10 is built and how it functions tends to be the issue. Currently on v1863, and it's been breaking down/deteriorating the past month again, like always. Windows update disappeared, yet defender updates on it's own. MS Store won't find updates or download new apps. Store brought up a bunch of random downloads that I don't now where they came from. Action Center works 10% of the time. Programs are being reset randomly and added to the startup that I had originally disabled and even my pin number to login sometimes doesn't work. The list goes on... and believe me, I can add to the list. I obtained versions 1607, 1703 & 1709 and am going to try each one until I get a "somewhat stable" OS that doesn't need to be reset entirely every other **** day. Hoping this is possible.

Man, I get the same problem, I have a computer with w10 ver 1803 and w7 in another pc and the hard drive works fines, but when I put it in a w10 2004 gave me the same error. I tried to change user security, but it's totally block to insert a new user. I really don't know what to do anymore... Thx!!  

The first time this happened, I was able to get permissions back by adding every single possible permission to the drives. Not sure which one, or ones, would do the trick, but that's how I eventually got my "access" back.

The 2nd time around changing my drives to RAW format, was a bit scary, but thankfully adding permissions one by one eventually gave me access back. But it happened at a different time than the first while adding permissions in order, so all I can say is that 10 is just screwing with us.

However, I found a way, for me at least so far, to avoid anymore external drive issues with this garbage OS. Only connect and turn on an external drive when the computer has been booted up and you are logged into your account. Then do what you need to do with them and then immediately eject and remove the drives. Never let them stay on, connected and idle. I ran into a permissions issues with this. Never run an disk check at boot as they will for sure mess with your drives. I did that twice and got screwed both times. Run a disk check via old school DOS while logged in only.

You will probably get a message that the drive may still be in use. DO NOT remove them anyway even if the hard drive is not doing anything because windows is randomly doing something and if you disconnect it you're likely to run into another issue like I did. After a few minutes that message will go away. However, if you feel windows is screwing with your drive, just pull the connection. Better to chance one or a few damaged files, rather than your whole drives and lose nearly every thing like I did. Do not leave the drives on and connected when shutting down, nor when booting up. I've run into issues every time I did the opposite, especially when I was testing what to do.

I wish you the best and please let us know if you've resolved it.