Windows 10: External hard drive says I don't have access

I have a brand new surface pro 7 and when I tried to open my removable hard drive it says I don't have access and I don't understand the instructions on how to gain access. Please help or let me know where to go for help. Thanks

:)

 

Seagate External Hard Drive

Hi Barbara,

Hardware failure or corruption within your system files are some of the possible reasons why you are experiencing an issue with accessing your external hard drive. For us to provide an accurate solution, we would need you to answer the following questions:

• Which build, version and edition of Windows 10?
• Are you experiencing the same issue when you are trying to access the external hard drive using another PC?
• What troubleshooting steps have you done so far?

In the meantime, we suggest running the automated troubleshooter for hardware. Follow these steps to do so:

• Open the Control Panel.
• Using the search box at the upper right corner of the window, type troubleshooting.
  
• From the search results, click on Troubleshooting.
• Click on Hardware and Sound and then choose Hardware and Devices.
• Once done, restart your computer and then check if the same issue persists.

We are looking forward to your response.

 

External Hard Drive

Hi John,

We suggest that you try the troubleshooting steps below:

• Open your External Hard Drive file in File Explorer.
• Type the name of the file you want to search on the search box and click Enter.

The file will show up in Search Results and you will be able to move it to the correct folder.

Let us know if you need further help.

 

External Hard Drive "is not accessible"

Hi Ridhwan,

Sorry for the delayed response. Let me continue to assist you further.

The issue here could have been due to fact that the Drive I:\ is encrypted or a flush drive. This forces the computer to not recognize the format and displays the error message. I suggest here to follow the steps below and check if it helps.

• Press Windows Key + letter 'X.'
• Choose 'Disk Management.'
• Right click on the External drive and select 'Change Drive letter and Path names.'
• Rename the drive letter i.e. remove letter I and say you replace it with letter
  J.
• Restart the computer and check the issue status.

Hope this helps. Please reply for further queries on this.