Windows 10: Unable to detect bitlocker encrypted drive after suddenly failing

My secondary hard drive failed, or appeared to have some fault very suddenly. I was watching a video, which cut off in the middle, and then it said "D:\ is not accessible" after which I tried accessing the drive in explorer but to no avail, and was unable to access through CLI either. I checked disk management and the drive was there but it was showing "uninitialized". I try to initialize it and then the drive disappears completely. I have no choice but to take it out of the laptop and connect it as an external, but I only did that after restarting once to see if it would fix the problem, which it didn't. I tried to unlock the drive after restarting, but after unlocking it disappeared again.


I looked around online and found the repair-bde solution which is outlined here. Unfortunately, even though the drive shows up for a few seconds, it disappears too quickly afterwards that I can't even use this method. It says something like "D: is not a volume".


By physically observing the drive, I can see the external's controller led blinking as if it was reading normally, this happens in the first few seconds when I connect it when the D drive shows up in explorer as a locked drive, but then the led gets constant, and the drive keeps spinning at insane speeds when this happens the drive disappears completely as if nothing is connected, but it still shows up in "Safely remove this drive", but I can't remove it either so I have to forcefully disconnect it.


I understand that the drive could've failed beyond repair, but since it is still getting recognized I still have some hope in recovering the data in it, and I want to exhaust all possible options.


I also tried a software such as EaseUS for recovery but it keeps "loading disk information" forever when the faulty drive is connected. I can't help but feel that bitlocker is complicating the process.


Please help me with any possible solutions, I'd be forever grateful.


P.s. It's also possible the drive was stopped in the midst of locking. My laptop has an issue where when I shutdown, it never turns off the fan or the power LED, so I have usually to wait for the disks to finish all reading/writing and forcefully shutdown the fan when the disk activity led is silent. This issue is caused by windows btw and I found no solutions for it whatsoever so I just came to accept it. If it was disconnected in the midst of locking the drive, does that mean the drive is now completely unsalvageable?

:)

 

BitLocker Encrypted Hard Drive to MAC

Hi,



Thank you for posting your query in Microsoft Community. I regret the inconvenience caused to you. Let me help you.



I suggest you to perform below mentioned steps to disable BitLocker.

To disable BitLocker I would suggest you try the following steps and see if it helps.

• 
  Press Windows key + X and click on
  Control Panel.
  
• 
  Change View by from Category
  to Large Icons/Small Icons.
  
• 
  Click on BitLocker Drive Encryption and click on
  Turn BitLocker Off.
  
• 
  Follow on screen instructions. Click on Decrypt the Drive
  when the message appears.
  

I would suggest you click on the link below and refer the following article.

Scenario 12: Turning Off BitLocker Drive Encryption (Windows 7)

Scenario 12: Turning Off BitLocker Drive Encryption (Windows 7)

(You can refer the steps in the above link as they are applicable for Windows 10 as well)



Check if it helps.



I hope the information helps. Please keep us posted on the issue. We will be happy to assist you accordingly.

Thank you.

 

Bitlocker Drive Encryption(Not Responding) at 84.5%

Hi,



Thank you for writing to Microsoft Community Forums.

We understand your concern, as you are trying to encrypt the complete hard drive with BitLocker Drive Encryption and now it’s not responding as well.



We would suggest you to refer this
BitLocker: Use BitLocker Drive Encryption Tools to manage BitLocker article and check manage-bde section, if that helps to make the changes.



However, for further queries we would suggest you to post your query in

TechNet forums, where we have experts and support professionals who are well equipped with the knowledge on BitLocker to assist you with the appropriate troubleshooting steps.



Aditya Roy

Microsoft Community – Moderator

 

Device Encryption not avaiable

Hello Fraczek,

Thank you for contacting Microsoft Community.

We understand your concern in this regard.

• Are you referring to BitLocker Drive Encryption?
• What preventing you from doing this?
• Did you get any error message or code while doing this?

Before you come up with the above information, suggest you to refer the article

Help protect your files using BitLocker Drive Encryption and see if it help you.

Do refer the article
Windows BitLocker Drive Encryption Step-by-Step Guide and check if it help you with the required information.

Keep us posted if you require further assistance.