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

Sony says:

October 21, 2015 at 10:57 am

I really thanks for the advice. It really works!

Reply
dr.sunit kumar jurel says:

September 17, 2015 at 11:17 am

my hard disc got corrupted and its not getting recovered as my computer person told me that its media is not responding. pl let me know how can i get my data recovered

Reply
1. Abhay says:
  
  September 17, 2015 at 11:25 am
  
  Download and install our software, see if the software detecting the problem media. If yes, you’d be able to scan and recover all your valuable files. You can scan and see preview of recoverable files and folders for free, saving is disabled in demo version.
  
  Good luck!!
  
  Reply
Shreenivas j h says:

September 10, 2015 at 5:12 pm

My hard disc is 1tb transcend company when I was using bit locker to lock it had become 50 to 70 perc there was power cut when I restarted my computer it showed some error I neglected after 10 days it is showing not accessible access denied it contain all files of my brothers job please help me

Reply
1. Abhay says:
  
  September 11, 2015 at 3:44 am
  
  Hi Shreenivas,
  
  Have you tried following steps mentioned in the article? I’d suggest you to try data recovery program after connecting the drive externally to your computer and see if the software detects it as well as allows you to recover data from it.
  
  Good luck!!
  
  Reply
todd says:

August 21, 2015 at 7:13 am

Hello. I have a WD my passport 0740 external hard drive that is giving me trouble. My hard drive works fine on a 32 bit windows 7 system, but when I plug it into my 64 bit windows 7 system it is recognized, but I get “not accessible access is denied” message. I have tried everything I can think of. I have changed the sharing and ownership tabs, and still no dice. While my new system recognizes the drive, it shows it as empty in the properties, while on the 32 bit windows 7 machine, I have access to everything on the drive. I am hoping you might have some other ideas for me, because it is driving me crazy.

Reply
1. Abhay says:
  
  August 24, 2015 at 9:22 am
  
  Hi Todd,
  
  Visit to the article below and find your corresponding problem as well as find relevant solution: Read More
  
  Feel free to share your progress!!
  
  Reply
Mukesh Raj says:

August 17, 2015 at 6:03 am

i am not able to access my hard disk.
it is showing message access is denied
i am using the above mentioned method of security tab but not able to solve the problem
kindly help me out

Reply
1. Abhay says:
  
  August 18, 2015 at 8:23 am
  
  Hi Mukesh,
  
  Which version of Windows you are using? Did the drive is visible under Disk management and you’ve tried changing the drive letter? I’d advise you to seek automatic way of recovering your files that itself is mentioned on the product page. Once you’ve recovered the desired files and folders, you can go with formatting the drive option.
  
  Reply
Muhammad says:

August 16, 2015 at 4:47 am

Hi i went through your blogs regarding the IT support, I have Samsung laptop and for last one week it is given me problem, my laptop hard drive has 2 partition by the name of C and D, whatever iam doing on C drive like to open my computer or documents it is taking too long and the main reason to message you is that it is showing a D drive partition in ‘MY COMPUTER’ but it is not opening, and all my data is saved in D drive, I even tried to installed new windows 7 but still is same, I tried to use option of disk defragmenter but it’s say ‘invalid parameters’ I tried to used bitlocker option but same message I got invalid parameters, I don’t want to lose my data, iam confused that if the problem is with hard drive then why C drive partition is working and D is not, when I right click on D drive for properties it Is taking too long, I will highly appreciate you if you can help me I don’t want to lose my data thanks

Reply
1. Abhay says:
  
  August 17, 2015 at 5:52 am
  
  Hi Muhammad,
  
  Try cloning or imaging the complete hard drive or partition (D:\ drive in your case) and format the partition from ‘Disk Management’. Perhaps, the partition has damaged or corrupt file system structure and would be not able to function normal anymore.
  
  You can also make use of automatic ways (mentioned at the top of this post) to fix partition inaccessibility errors and recover your important files and folders.
  
  Good luck!!
  
  Reply
Ricardo Zea says:

August 7, 2015 at 3:09 pm

Just installed Windows 10 and my personal drive was inaccessible ¬¬ not sure what happened there.

I was finally able to add my Administrator as the owner and regain access to the drive.

HUGE Thanks for putting this together.

The steps that save me where these:
1. Right-click on the inaccessible file or folder.
2. Click Properties.
3. Select the Security tab.
4. Click your name Under Group or user name. This would show you the permissions you have to access the file and folder.

Reply
John Thompson says:

August 6, 2015 at 7:52 pm

Hello, I have faced a problem recently. I use Maxtor 80 GB ATA HDD. Recently I am hearing a tik tik sound every after few minutes from my HDD. when I hear the sound my computer gets hang for five to ten seconds. Than I’m tryied to install Windows 7 64bit onto my pc, but I am having problems. In the setup windows can’t locate my hdd, but the bios is able to see my hard drive. What is the possible solution you suggest?
Thanks in advance

Reply
1. Abhay says:
  
  August 7, 2015 at 3:25 am
  
  I’d suggest you to take out the problem drive and connect it externally to another working PC. Start copying/moving all your valuable files and purchase a new drive as your old drive have already started failing and keep using the drive will only make the situation worst.
  
  Hope it helps!!
  
  Reply
Nitesh says:

July 24, 2015 at 6:27 pm

Hi my drive atomatically made a root_drive in it how can i acess my files from it or how can i recover my files plzz help

Reply
1. Abhay says:
  
  August 7, 2015 at 3:23 am
  
  Hi Nitesh,
  
  Please go through the solutions mentioned on above replies and see if that helps.
  
  Don’t hesitate to reply back if your problem still persists.
  
  Good luck!!
  
  Reply
Aniket says:

July 24, 2015 at 1:08 pm

Dear sir,

i have windows xp in my system but i m not able to access my d drive partition its getting format the partition error. in this case how can i recover my data because data is very important as this is my childhood backup and office work data. please sujest the suitable and easy method to recover my data.

Thanks in Advance.

Reply
1. Abhay says:
  
  August 7, 2015 at 3:21 am
  
  You can download data recovery software for completely automated recovery procedure. You can download the software from URL below and install on the PCs running any latest version of Windows:
  
  Read More
  
  Start scanning after selecting the problem partition. If you can see the desired inaccessible files, only then you’d be able to recover data. Keep in mind that software would cost you around $99 to actually recover files. In free download, you can only see the list of recoverable files and folders.
  
  Good luck!!
  
  Reply