Windows 10: Unknown Bitlocker encryption on a external seagate HDD

To give some background I have been using a acer 300 se laptop as a gaming laptop and also to keep photos. But recently built a PC as a daily driver and was hoping to use a external hdd used on my laptop to transfer everything to me PC. So on the first time turning it on for actual use I try to plug in and open the Seagate hdd through file explorer but a pop up appears saying there is a bitlocker encryption on the drive. Mind you since using this hdd I am 99% positive I have never turned on bitlocker on this drive. Now the problem I'm facing is this drive inaccessible holding many important fi

:)

 

External USB HDD drive bitlocker encrypted without a key

Hello CatchyWater7200,

Thank you for reaching Microsoft Community. We're sorry for the inconvenience this has caused you.

I am aware that you're having trouble accessing your external USB disk drive that has been encrypted by BitLocker. I am here to help. Allow me to ask a question.

• Would you mind sharing what exactly the message shows when ask for the USB key?
  

Your drive appears to have been encrypted using BitLocker, a function that guards your data against illegal access. For access to the drive, BitLocker requires a password or recovery key. Since you don't have a BitLocker USB key, you can try using the BitLocker recovery key to unlock the drive. Here are the steps to do that:

1. Connect the external USB disk drive to your Surface Pro 6.
   
2. When prompted to enter the BitLocker key, click on "More options". Or you can enter "Esc" key or the Windows key to continue.
   
3. Click on "Enter recovery key".
   
4. Enter the BitLocker recovery key that you found on your Microsoft account.
   
5. Click on "Unlock".
   

If the above steps don't work, you can try disabling BitLocker on the external USB disk drive. Here are the steps to do that:

1. Connect the external USB disk drive to your Surface Pro 6.
   
2. Open File Explorer and right-click on the external USB disk drive.
   
3. Click on "Manage BitLocker".
   
4. Click on "Turn off BitLocker".
   
5. Follow the on-screen instructions to disable BitLocker on the external USB disk drive.
   

Please note that disabling BitLocker will remove the encryption from the external USB disk drive and make it less secure. Therefore, it's recommended to re-enable BitLocker once you've accessed your files and photos.

Let me know how it goes.

Kind regards,

Lavenia

 

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 stuck at 11.5% encryption

Hello, I'm attempting to enable Bitlocker encryption on an external hard drive, but it will not proceed further than 11.5%.

Technical details:

• Windows 10 Pro
  
• Seagate 1TB external HDD
  

So far I've tried:

• chkdsk /r in elevated cmd
  
• chkdsk /f in elevated cmd
  
• Pausing, then resuming through the Bitlocker GUI
  
• manage-bde pause, manage-bde resume, , manage-bde cancel, both in elevated cmd
  
• Restarting (over 5 times)
  
• Leaving it running for >6 hrs
  
• Swapping USB port used for the drive
  
• Decrypting, then re-encrypting (twice)
  

Chkdsk reveals that there is one bad sector on the drive. I've deleted the file on that sector and rebooted, however it's still detecting that sector in the drive's recycling bin (and rebooting hasn't cleared it out). Chkdsk does not run any action to correct that and says no actions are needed at this time. I also run Hard Disk Sentinel by Janos Mathe, it reports the drive's health as 99% with 1 weak sector.