[Fixed] "Access Denied" Issue on Drive in Windows 10/8/7

"Last week, my Seagate external hard drive suddenly stopped working. Whenever I plug it into my laptop and try to open it, a pop-up appears, stating 'Location is not available: G:\ cannot be accessed. Access is denied.' How can I fix this error? I am using the Windows 10 operating system."

How do I fix the "Access Denied" error on an external hard drive?

Have you ever encountered an inaccessible hard drive partition? If so, you can read on to learn how to fix the "drive cannot be accessed" error without losing your data.

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Overview of "Access is denied" errors

External hard drives are commonly used for storing personal data like text files, images, audio, videos, and more. However, sometimes, the disk shows an error message “location is not available”, stating “Drive X: is not accessible. Access is denied.” This error prevents users from accessing their files. Many desktop and laptop users have reported this issue in different scenarios and across various OS versions, such as Windows 10/8/7.

To illustrate how this happens, and how it can be overcome, I conducted an experiment that will give you an example. I created the same situation on my own computer, and eventually resolved it in the same way.

Before proceeding, I disabled User Permissions in the Properties of E: to test the viability of the upcoming solution. Of course, E: can be replaced with D:, F: or G: – or any other drive letter experiencing the same problem. In my case, after modifying the properties of E:, I ended up with a grayed-out NTFS drive with no information about available or used space.

When I double-clicked it, I got the expected error message, “E:\ is not accessible. Access is denied.”

When I click “Okay,” nothing happens here.

Would you like to watch a video tutorial before proceeding? Here's the link…

1. Gain Access to Fix the "Access Denied. You Don't Have Permission to Access" Error

Usually, when you receive the “Drive is not accessible. Access is denied” error on your external hard drive, it indicates that you lack permission to access the disk partition. Hence, to fix this issue, you need to take ownership to gain permissions.

Step 1: Right-click on the inaccessible hard drive and select “Properties.” Switch to the “Security” tab. Here, you should see the reason why you can't open the hard drive. It says, “You must have read permission to view the properties of this object.” Click “Advanced” as instructed.

Step 2. Click "Change" to try running the operation with administrative privileges.

Step 3: When choosing “User” or “Group,” first select “Advanced.” In the “Basic Query” section, choose “Find Now” to display a list of user names in your search results.

Usually, Windows adds four user groups to the permissions: Authenticated Users, Administrators, Users, and System. If you have only added Administrators and System, you will not be able to access the disk, not even to read properties such as used and free space. Therefore, you need to add the User account to the permissions.

Scroll down to “Verified Users,” and click “OK” to add them.

Tip: If you are unsure which security item is missing, try adding a few more names the same way until you get the right permissions. Otherwise, choose Everyone to allow unrestricted access.

Step 4: Save your changes and confirm. Back in Explorer, my E: drive is now back to normal. I can open it without any errors.

2. Recover Data and Format Disk to Fix “Access Denied” Error

If the Windows Explorer Properties fails to resolve the issue, you can try recovering data from the inaccessible hard drive and format the disk for repair.

How to Recover Data from an Unbootable Drive

When Windows detects your hard drive but you can't access the drive, that's when a tool like the Data Recovery Wizard comes in handy. It can help you scan and recover all data files from a corrupted hard drive, inaccessible hard drive, or RAW hard drive.

Now download the free file recovery tool and run it to get your data back.

Step 1: Select the inaccessible hard drive that you cannot access on your computer. Click "Scan" to let the Data Recovery Wizard tool scan and find your hard drive data.

Step 2: After the scan, you can preview and check the found files in the scanning results window. The "Deleted Files" and "Other Lost Files" folders contain all your lost files. You can also click on "Filter" to quickly find files of a specific type. Preview these files and decide which ones you want to recover.

Step 3: Finally, select the items you wish to restore and click on “Recover.” Choose a secure location (like a healthy physical drive on your computer or another external storage device) and click “OK” to begin the recovery of all lost data from the inaccessible hard drive.

Format the Hard Drive to Fix "Access Denied" Error

Upon completion of the data recovery, go to "My Computer" or "This PC", right-click on the disk that needs repairing, and select "Format". In the pop-up window, you can set the file system and cluster size, then click the "OK" button.

Conclusions

On this page, we introduce you to two practical solutions that help you gain access to and format the device through File Explorer to permanently fix the “Access is denied” error on your storage device in Windows 10/8/7.

You may have some questions about this, which you can find answers to in the three FAQs below.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

1. What is inaccessible?

Literally, "not accessible" refers to an area that cannot be entered or a goal that cannot be reached. In the context of computers, an "access denied" error typically means that your current storage device is not reachable, and you are unable to open it or access the files and data saved on the device.

2. Why am I getting access denied to my hard drive?

Usually, when you encounter the “The disk is not accessible. Access is denied” error on your external or internal hard drive, it indicates that you don't have permission to access the disk partition.

To fix this, you must take ownership to gain permission.

How do I fix the "Access Denied, Hard Drive Not Accessible" issue in Windows 10?

As the page states, to fix an “Access is denied” error on a hard drive, you need to take ownership of the drive on a Windows 10 PC.

1]. One way is to actually get the proper permissions from Windows, following the steps listed in Fix 1 on this page. 2]. Another way to force access is by formatting the device and changing its file system, as listed in the above Fix 2.

If you're encountering similar issues when trying to open a hard drive, USB, or folder and need more practical solutions, follow the guide on How to Fix “Access Denied” Error on Hard Drive/USB/Folder to recover your data yourself.