Fix Drive Is Not Accessible Error & Recover Data

Summary:

When the error “Drive is not accessible” pops up, it indicates that you will not be able to access the external drive connected to your Windows computer. In this Article you will find the best manual workarounds to fix the error “Drive is not accessible, access is denied” in Windows platform. Not only fixing the error but also guides you on recovering data from the same inaccessible drive.

The error “Drive is not accessible” can be caused due to multiple reasons such as virus, bad sectors on the drive or power surges. As a result, your precious data in the drive also becomes inaccessible. In some cases of severe drive corruption, it could lead to permanent data loss.

Usually when drive is not accessible, you will see the pop-up, Location is not available, with the details “Drive X: is not accessible, Access is denied” as shown above.

Sometimes you might experience error with different error messages like:

“E:\ is not accessible, the parameter is incorrect”,

“E:\ is not accessible, data error (cyclic redundancy check)”, or

“Partition is not accessible, the file or directory is corrupted and unreadable” when trying to access the partition.

Table of contents

How to Access Data from an Inaccessible Hard Drive?

How can I recover data from inaccessible external hard drive?

Why is my hard drive not accessible?

How do I make my hard drive accessible: Fix Drive is not accessible: Access is denied Error

How to Access Data from an Inaccessible Hard Drive?

There are equal chances of data loss when you encounter any of the errors mentioned above. Before heading towards the manual methods to fix the errors, verify if you have a backup of your data. Considering you have a data backup, you can directly dive in to the manual methods to fix inaccessible hard drive.

If you don’t have backup, fixing the inaccessible drive can put your data on the drive at stake. Hence you need to first recover your precious data using a safe and trusted recovery tool and then repair the inaccessible drive.

With an effective search algorithm SFWare External hard drive recovery tool recovers data inaccessible drive or partition. The tool searches sector by sector to complete the recovery process successfully. With the help of the tool you can recover more than 300+ file types from the drive, and it is available for both Windows and Mac computers.

How can I recover data from inaccessible external hard drive?

To recover inaccessible partition, download and install the SFWare external hard drive recovery software. Launch the application and follow the below mentioned steps:

1. From the main screen, click on Drive/Partition recovery, and select the error causing drive to recover data from the drive that is not accessible.
   
2. Now, the scanning process initiates. Once the scanning process is over, software displays all the set of recoverable files on the screen.
   
3. You can observe all the recovered data from the inaccessible external drive in either Data View or File Type View
   
   
4. Next, you can also Preview recovered files, if the results are satisfactory you can save the files in any desired location.

Once the process of recovering data from the inaccessible drive completes, move further to fix the error.

Why my Drive is not accessible?

It is important to have ownership privileges to access your drive. When you don’t have privilege to access the drive, the error shows up. In such situations you need have ownership privileges to grant complete access on the drive.

Sometimes, the file system on the drive couldn’t be recognized by Windows due to incorrect or invalid file system of the drives.

How to Fix Drive is not accessible: Access is denied Error?

Follow the steps to fix the error local disk not accessible, hard disk inaccessible in Windows 11/10/7 versions.

Initially, try CHKDSK command to fix the error, CHKDSK is the system tool that fixes most of the logical error without any hassle. If this method doesn’t help you, follow the other methods described to fix error in Windows 10/7 versions.

CHKDSK method to fix the error drive is not accessible

Right click on Start button Run Command Prompt as administrator. Next, input ‘CHKDSK’, then a space followed by the drive you wish to scan.

For example, if you wanted to scan the ‘C’ drive, you’d type CHKDSK C: /f and enter.

This process will fix issues present on the drive. Once the process gets completed, try opening your drive again to see if the accessibility issue is fixed.

For Windows 10: Fix cannot access the disk

1. Right-click on the inaccessible drive -> Go to the Properties
2. Select the Security and click on the Edit
   
   
3. When the Permissions for New Volume (E:) dialog box appears, click the Add button to continue.
   
4. Add a new user name Authenticated User and Click OK
5. In the permission section give full control to newly added user and click OK
6. New dialog box appears on the screen and shows 2 options Continue or Cancel.
7. Press . and after the completion of process click Cancel

For Windows 7: Fix the error drive is not accessible

If you are working on Windows 7 the error might occur if you are running HomeGroup that share files and data and shared a root drive and left the HomeGroup without a proper instruction. In this situation access to the drive is denied that was shared.  To fix the error on Windows 7, follow the below instructions:

Go to the Windows Explorer and follow the below mentioned steps:

 

1. Right-click on the inaccessible hard drive >> Click Properties.
2. Go to the Security tab >> click on Advanced option
3. Now, go to Owner tab >> click on Edit option
4. Modify the ownership of the desired account

If you are not able to access any file or folder on a Windows 7 drive, try the steps below:

1. Right-click on the inaccessible file or folder.
2. Click on Properties option à Select the Security tab.
3. Click your name Under Group or username. This would show you the permissions you have to access the file and folder.

Bottom Line:

By following the above mentioned solutions, you would surely fix the error location is not available access is denied in external hard drives. Also, to recover your important data you can easily rely on SFWare hard drive recovery tool.