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

Hi,

Part of the problem may be that the Owner is "Administrators".. That probably will not work for various reasons to long to type..

You should make your account the owner, which would be the User name of your C:\USER folder...

Then add your account as a User with full permission..

Some people have had better luck setting the Owner as "Everyone" and adding "Everyone" as a Use with Full Permissions... This can be helpful when switching external drives between different machines..

Edit... Is there any particular reason one of your drives was created as a "Logical" drive ?

I notice you originally said you'd downloaded 1909 from "somewhere" which can be risky since some download sources are dangerous. Always get your older version downloads from Microsoft Tech Bench here: https://tb.rg-adguard.net/public.php

If the drives pass diagnostics, run another full Disk Check from Command Prompt to see if the file system has issues:

https://www.groovypost.com/howto/check-hard-dri...

See if you can access the files on any other PC. If not try from Command prompt at boot in Repair Mode or from bootable media as shown here:

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wiki...

If they don't show up at all then run File Recovery software, starting with Recuva: http://www.piriform.com/recuva/features

Forgot to add the screenshots:

Hi,

Did it allow you to change Ownership and add a User, or did that get the access denied error as well ?

One thing you should do... Turn off Fast Startup.. If it is turned on when the computer is shutdown and then drives are removed, it can cause issues with the drives very similar to a power outage or disconnecting them when they are running.. There is a chance that this is what actually caused the problem, but I think it may still be related to Permissions..

If you are using a Microsoft Account, try switching to a Local Account, then do the Owner\User change again.. Microsoft Accounts are more restrictive than Local Accounts..

For Fast Startup...

This feature only works when you do a SHUTDOWN and then Boot.

It doesn't effect a RESTART.

To turn it off or on...

Go to Control panel...Power Options, and select Choose What the Power Buttons Do on the left.

Then select Change Settings That Are Currently Unavailable near the top center of screen...

Lower down on the window, uncheck Fast Startup.

Good Morning Slance,

On 2004 I hadn't turned it off, 99% sure of that. Only turned off when i was trying to gain access again. Since it didn't work and I was irritated, I then went ahead and got 1909. However it was one of the things I had done after installing 1909 the other day. So im guessing it doesn't really matter now since it's too late, if it was the issue.

Changing permissions doesn't seem to be an issue. Adding users and such isn't either. I even downloaded the registry entry to add the "Take Ownership" to the context menu. All it did was flicker the screen and maintain the ownership I already have. Perhaps there is a combo that I haven't attempted yet that might work, but I honestly don't feel like it may work.

Diagnostics tests were all different:

• WD's DataGuard couldn't test the drive. Only shows up as a logical drive with no testing option. Would only test drive that were "accessible"
• Seatools tested them all and results were good
• DiskCheckup tested all and results were good
• HDDSCAN tested all and results were good

I tried others but they would only recognize internal drives or specific type drives.My assumption from the results is that my drives are still healthy and somehow windows screwed something up. I've read a lot of people loosing access with win10 dating back 4 years. I'm not in shock that they haven't done whatever they could to prevent this from happening since it seems all they care about is pumping out whatever to whomever regardless of the implications on the user.

Hi,

Did it allow you to change Ownership and add a User, or did that get the access denied error as well ?

One thing you should do... Turn off Fast Startup.. If it is turned on when the computer is shutdown and then drives are removed, it can cause issues with the drives very similar to a power outage or disconnecting them when they are running.. There is a chance that this is what actually caused the problem, but I think it may still be related to Permissions..

If you are using a Microsoft Account, try switching to a Local Account, then do the Owner\User change again.. Microsoft Accounts are more restrictive than Local Accounts..

For Fast Startup...

This feature only works when you do a SHUTDOWN and then Boot.

It doesn't effect a RESTART.

To turn it off or on...

Go to Control panel...Power Options, and select Choose What the Power Buttons Do on the left.

Then select Change Settings That Are Currently Unavailable near the top center of screen...

Lower down on the window, uncheck Fast Startup.