How to Fix Inaccessible Hard Drive- “Access is Denied” Error and Recover Data

Written By Oliver Powell
Approved By Rohit Arora
Updated on 23 Jan, 2024
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‘Hard Drive is not accessible. Access is denied’ is one of the most common errors that make the hard drives inaccessible and in the worst case, it could also lead to data loss. Here in this blog you will find the solutions to fix the issue. We will also share an easy, DIY method to recover your lost data stored on inaccessible hard drive using Stellar Data Recovery tool.

The hard drive is one of the major storage components of a computer system. It stores various kinds of data like text, pictures, audios, videos, etc. Any problem arising in such hard drives could lead to inaccessibility of the data present in it. Such inaccessibility is often supported by various error messages. One of the most common error messages that make the hard drives inaccessible is “Hard Drive is not accessible. Access is denied“.

Hard Drive is not accessible. Access is denied — *Figure 1: Access is Denied Error*

What is this “Access is Denied” error?

The error message indicates that there is some problem with the hard drive, which has made the hard drive inaccessible. In the worst case, it could also lead to data loss.

Why do we face it?

The issues mentioned above can be experienced in many different situations as well as different versions of operating systems. The error message indicates that the hard drive has gone corrupt.

To get over from the situation, you can follow any of the two solutions mentioned below:

Automatic Method
and, Manual Method.

1. How to Automatically Fix this Error?

To solve hard drive inaccessibility issues, formatting will be the sure shot way. However, the stored data may be compromised, and you may permanently lose access to it. To avoid losing data, you can use data recovery programs that can recover data from the inaccessible hard drive without altering the file attributes.

Use Stellar Data Recovery Professional for Windows to recover files from the inaccessible hard drive or any other storage media with similar issues. You can free download this data recovery software on any latest Windows machine and begin scanning the formatted or erased hard drive for your data.

You can select specific volume giving you access denied error. Once you select the volume, click on Scan button to initiate scanning process. Here is the video to show how you can recover the lost data:

2. How to Fix this Error via Manual Ways?

a) For Windows 10

If you are running Windows 10 then follow below steps to access your inaccessible drive:

Right-click on the inaccessible drive.
Now go to the ‘Properties’ section.

Select the ‘Security’ and click on the ‘Edit’ button.

The “Permissions for New Volume (E:)” dialog box appears, as shown in the figure below. Click the ‘Add’ button to continue.

Add a new user named ‘Authenticated User’ and Click ‘OK’.
From the permission section, give ‘full control’ to newly added user and click ‘OK’.
The dialog box will show two options: ‘Continue’ or ‘Cancel’.
Press Continue… and Cancel at last.
Now, you are done.

b) For Windows 7

In the case of Windows 7, you might get that error if you are running HomeGroup and have shared a root drive E:\, and finally, you have left the HomeGroup. This situation would deny you any access to the drive that was shared and would give you the following error message.

To resolve this issue, go to the Windows Explorer and follow the below mentioned steps:

Right-click on the inaccessible hard drive.
Click Properties.
Go to the Security tab, and then click Advanced.
Click ‘Edit’ by going to the Owner tab.
Modify the ownership of the desired account.

Alternatively, you can also try the following option if you are not able to access any file or folder on a Windows 7 drive.

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

You can also try the following method:

Change the drive letter for an inaccessible hard drive.
Run the following command: chkdsk /r I:
Try to boot into the safe mode and access the HDD.
Try accessing the HDD in Windows 7 Ultimate and Home Premium.
You will be able to access the drive, as chkdsk command would have deleted the files that were causing the problem.

c) For Windows Vista

You can also face a similar kind of situation while working with Windows Vista.

Like Windows 7, you can also check the permissions of the file or folder in Windows Vista.

Go to the Properties by right-clicking the file or folder.
Click the Security tab.
From usernames or Group, check the permissions you have by clicking your name.

You can also check if the problem is due to an encrypted file or not, by following the below mentioned steps.

Right-click on the inaccessible hard drive.
Click Properties.
Click the General tab-> Advanced.
See the checkbox encrypt is selected or not.
If yes, then get the certificate used for encryption to open the file. The encryption certificate lies with the person who creates the file.

You need to have an encryption key or certificates for those Windows edition in which the Encrypting File System (EFS) is not fully supported. For example, Windows Vista Starter, Windows Vista Home Basic, and Windows Vista Home Premium do not support it so that you can follow the below mentioned steps.

Open the Command Prompt.
Type Cipher.exe /d on the command prompt to decrypt the file.
Change the encrypted file.
Copy the decrypted file on your computer’s hard disk.
Import keys and EFS certificates.
Open the Command Prompt.
Type Cipher.exe /r to back up EFS certificates and keys.

d) For Windows XP

In the case of Windows XP, you might face the “Access is denied” issue if you have used an earlier version of Windows to create a volume based on NTFS file system and then installed Windows XP.

A change in the version of the operating system changes the security ID of the user. As the security ID of the person who created the folder was different on an earlier version of the Windows, in spite of the same username and password you do not have the permission to open the folder after you perform the following steps.

The actual location of the ‘My Documents’ folder has been changed before installing Windows XP professional.
Install Windows XP Professional, by formatting the primary partition.

For resolution turn off the Simple File Sharing option and take ownership of the folder.

Open ‘My Computer’.
Go to Tools->Folder->View.
Go to Advanced Settings and clear the Use simple file sharing checkbox.
Click OK.
Right-click the desired folder for ownership and click Properties.
Click the Security tab.
Click OK on the Security message if any.
Click Advanced->Owner tab.
Click your username in the Name list.
Click OK.
In case you get an error message, click ‘Yes’.
Click OK.
Reapply the permissions and security settings.

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About The Author

Oliver Powell

Oliver Powell is a Data Recovery Expert at Stellar®. He is a passionate technology blogger & content creator, He explores new applications and has deep understanding of data recovery. He has experience in Windows & Mac data recovery domain.

192 comments

Thilina says:

June 30, 2015 at 3:25 pm

Thank u very much. The ownership thing worked. I owe u big time . Thanks again.

Reply
SAHIL says:

June 29, 2015 at 11:38 am

Thanx man your this method was very helpfull

“”You can also try the following method

Change the drive letter for inaccessible hard drive.
Run the following command: chkdsk /r I:
Try to boot into the safe mode and access the HDD.””

Reply
1. Abhay says:
  
  June 30, 2015 at 3:52 am
  
  Glad it helped Sahil!!
  
  Future suggestions and comments are always welcome.
  
  Reply
sandeep says:

June 28, 2015 at 4:23 am

security tab is not available in properties .. dnt know what to do now any suggestions

Reply
1. Abhay says:
  
  June 30, 2015 at 3:53 am
  
  Dear Sandeep,
  
  Which version of Windows you’re using. Also, make sure that you are logged in using admin privileges.
  
  Good luck!!
  
  Reply
Parthiban Thulasi says:

June 27, 2015 at 7:06 am

Abhay Thanks..

Though the folder (not the drive) was locked in Win8.. Win Xp was more easier than Win 8..

I removed my primary HDD from my CPU … connected to a External USB SATA HDD casing.. Connected to my old xp laptop via USB… Followed your instruction…

Folder became accessable… It worked like a melting candy..

Thanks
..

Reply
1. Abhay says:
  
  June 30, 2015 at 3:56 am
  
  Hi Parthiban,
  
  Windows 8 is considered to be more secured than the predecessors. Have you tried following the same resolution steps in Windows 8 as you’ve did in XP?
  
  I’m glad anyway that the suggestions helped you!!
  
  Reply
sunny singh says:

June 13, 2015 at 8:56 am

sir
i copied some files from chip to e drive..after sone time..my e drive showed that drive not accessible and need to format it..plz help me out….

Reply
1. Abhay says:
  
  June 15, 2015 at 4:34 am
  
  Hi Sunny,
  
  Go through the steps mentioned in the article like changing the drive letter, running chkdsk command to check and repair hard disk errors etc. If you cannot able to fix or resolve your issue even after following all the above steps, you can surely ask for more help.
  
  Till then, good luck!!
  
  Reply
vasanth says:

June 10, 2015 at 12:02 am

hOW TO SOLVE THE ISSUE IF EXTERNAL HARD DISK IS INACCESSIBLE

Reply
1. Abhay says:
  
  June 15, 2015 at 4:32 am
  
  Have you even followed the steps described in the article above. I’d request you to go through it and let me know if the problem still occurs.
  
  Waiting for your reply!!
  
  Reply
Ali RazzaQ says:

June 5, 2015 at 5:17 pm

Thanks.. i was facing this problem for a couple of days.. now finally got fix it..

Reply
1. Abhay says:
  
  June 8, 2015 at 4:33 am
  
  Hi Ali,
  
  Glad to hear that!! You’re also invited to read more helpful posts at our blog
  
  Reply
kieran says:

May 28, 2015 at 2:39 pm

Hi, I’ve got a problem with my hdd in my tower well I think it’s my hdd. I go to turn the power on and it crashes straight away before it even gets to the bios setup please help me

Reply
1. Abhay says:
  
  June 1, 2015 at 5:30 am
  
  Hi Kieran,
  
  I’m afraid that the drive is dead and couldn’t be accessed. The only chance to survive your data is using data recovery services but it’ll put a huge budget on your pockets. I’d recommend to go for service only if it’s too precious.
  
  Good luck!!
  
  Reply
Pondra says:

May 24, 2015 at 1:11 pm

dear sir, i have resolved the problem after trying your methods, until i reboot and then my drives become inaccessible again. hope you can fix this. thank you before.

Reply
1. Abhay says:
  
  May 28, 2015 at 3:01 am
  
  Dear Pondra,
  
  Can you explain the exact problem you’re facing or what is the exact error message pops out after connecting the problem drive to your computer.
  
  You can follow some pre-troubleshooting steps and see if that helps you out:
  
  1. Try changing the drive letter name.
  2. Try changing the USB ports you’re trying to connect. You can also seek another computer and see if the problem drive is accessible or not.
  3. Make sure the drive is working i.e. Lights blinking after connecting it to the system, beep sound etc.
  
  Do let me know if any way helps you out.
  
  Reply
  1. Pondra says:
    
    June 2, 2015 at 5:58 am
    
    thanks for the response before, sorry for lacks of detail problem.
    important to know that problem occured in internal HDD —with 8 partition (1 for system, page file, boot, active, crash, dump, primary partition, represented by letter C; 4 primary partition, represented by letter D,E,F,G; and 3 logical drive H,I,J)— is not accessible (except drive C: and external HDD) with pop up message exactly like your picture above . i’ve changed drive letter and they were work and recognize but the problem occurs again after booting and then i went to security tab in properties of inaccessible drives and i found there is no users or groups option just message “you don’t have permission to view or edit this object’s permission setting”. i hope these details can help you fix this problem.
    Thank you very much.
  2. Abhay says:
    
    June 5, 2015 at 3:41 am
    
    What about switching ports. I’m afraid that the cable is damaged and would strongly recommend to try new or some other cables you’ve around.
    
    Also, see if the drive is listed as ‘Healthy Partition’ under ‘Disk Management’.
    
    Report your progress once you are done!!
Mujeeb ur Rehman says:

May 12, 2015 at 5:43 pm

Thank you. I have resolved my access is denied error on one of my drive . By your method

Reply
1. Abhay says:
  
  May 13, 2015 at 8:23 am
  
  Glad it helped Mujeeb. Do let me know if you strikes any more hard drive related problems in future.
  
  Reply
  1. rishabh says:
    
    August 14, 2017 at 10:02 am
    
    Sir
    i have the same problem but error is different “E is not accessible” “the parameters is incorrect”
    pls help
  2. Jyoti Prakash says:
    
    August 25, 2017 at 3:52 am
    
    Hello Rishabh,
    
    ‘The parameter is incorrect’ error usually happens due to file system corruption & disk errors, corruptions or bad sectors.
    
    If you wish to recover your data, then I recommend to use data recovery software and reformat the hard drive/USB drive.
    
    Please try the demo version of Stellar Data Recovery Professional from the below-mentioned link:
    
    Download Link
    
    After installing the software, please follow the below-mentioned steps to create an image of the drive as your drive contains bad sectors:
    
    1. Run Stellar Windows Data Recovery software.
    2. From Select What to Recover screen, select the type of data i.e. Everything, Documents, Folders & Emails or Multimedia Files, you want to recover. Click on Next.
    3. On Select Location screen, select Recover from Disk Images from Other Locations and click on Scan button.
    4. Now select Create Image option and click Next.
    5. From Create Image screen, select the drive or partition for which you wish to create an image.
    6. To create an image of the entire drive or partition click on Start Imaging.
    7. In ‘Create Media Image to Save’ dialog box, locate the destination where image file should be saved. In the File Name text box, type name. Click on Save.
    8. Click on Scan to start the recovery process.
  3. Arun says:
    
    October 4, 2017 at 5:12 pm
    
    Thanks so much. Your explanations helped me to recover my data.
2. Kurle says:
  
  May 25, 2015 at 9:58 pm
  
  With wich method?
  
  Reply