Windows 10: BitLocker locked my external HDD and tells me that the encryption on this device isn't...

I have an external 600GB USB HDD which I used for many years and it worked very well.


When I used it yesterday on my work laptop, it told me the following about my external HDD first: "The device is BitLocker protected." This was strange because I never encrypted it. I used it on the same notebook 1.5 weeks ago and it worked perfectly fine. I kept since then in my drawer until yesterday. When I clicked to unlock it then I got even more strange message

" The BitLocker encryption on this device isn't compatible with your version of Windows. Try opening the drive using newer version of Windows."


This drive worked on the same notebook with the same Win10 1.5 weeks ago and it isn't working now. At no point, it asks me for any password or the recovery key, which I don't have anyway because I didn't encrypt it.


I spoke to IT in my company it's a company notebook and I was told that there is no trace after this external drive and they only have a recovery key to my regular C: hard disk. If the external one was really encrypted by the work notebook they would have had its recovery key but they don't. This is what they told me.


I also connected this external drive to two other personal Win10 notebooks and one old Vista notebook. Each time the same comment about the lack of compatibility.


I used this drive many times in the past on all notebooks I tested yesterday and today and it worked perfectly until yesterday. I don't believe that it is really encrypted because it typically takes hours and the last time I had it working I had it connected only for a few minutes.


Any ideas how to recover the data and diagnose the rootcause of this problem more than welcome.

:)

 

Bitlocker encrypted external drive without user authorization

I primarily use a 2TB external hdd on my dell xps laptop.

The laptop is on a Windows 10 home edition OS, with bitlocker turned on by default (possibly by the local distributor of the laptop) on the C drive. I have left it on and made no changes to it.

When i plug in the external hdd into the laptop, it works fine, with no indication that it is encrypted or locked. The bitlocker settings page on the laptop does not show that the drive is encrypted and i can just plug-and-play the hdd with no problems.

But on my desktop PC (or any other PC other than the dell laptop), the same external hdd shows that it is encrypted by bitlocker and requires a 48-digit recovery key, which i do not
have. I have checked on my microsoft account where the recovery key for the laptop is saved, but only the recovery key (with the key ID) for the C drive of the laptop is found, not the external drive.

As i understand, bitlocker-to-go - which encrypts external removable drives - is a feature only available on windows 10 pro. My desktop PC, which i use occasionally with the hdd, is
windows 10 pro. But my laptop is windows 10 home and would not have that feature available to it.

Is it possible that since the laptop C drive is bitlocker encrypted, it somehow extended its encryption to the removable external drive? Because the external drive works perfectly
when connected to the laptop, with no indication that it is bitlocker locked. But if thats the case, why does the laptop 48 digit recovery key didnt work on the external drive? Would it help for me to turn off bitlocker on the laptop and let it decrypt the
C drive? But if i do this, do i leave the external drive connected while it is decrypting the C drive?

I knew the drive is encrypted by bitlocker as the prompt window to unlock the drive states 'Bitlocker #alphabet'

 

Bitlocker has locked my external HDD how do I unlock - never encrypted

Bitlocker has locked my external HDD how do I unlock - never encrypted

I use Windows 10 and Microsoft support just reinstalled Windows 10.

Now I can't access any of my files

 

Device Encryption vs Bitlocker

Hi David,

Since you would like to know more about Bitlocker and device encryption, we suggest that you check and review our advance support site about the overview of Bitlocker and device encryption on this

link.

The overview provide details between the two programs that might help you to decide.

Regards.