Windows 10: Windows 10 locked my external hard drive with Bitlocker protection without permission. Help!

Greetings,


Here's the story: I plugged my hard drive into my Asus Transformer to transfer some video files. I then safely removed the drive and plugged it into my Blu-Ray player to watch the videos on my TV, as I often do. But this time my Blu-Ray player gave me an error saying that it did not recognize the drive. I brought the drive up to my desktop which told me the drive was secured with BitLocker protection.


On a whim, I decided to plug the drive back into the Transformer to see what happens. It opened without any problem. But then I accidentally bumped it and it disconnected. I reconnected it, but this time the Transformer book told me the same thing as my desktop PC: it's secured with Bitlocker protection. I don't know how this happened. I have NEVER manually put Bitlocker protection on a hard drive and there's no way I could have done it accidentally just moving files from one explorer window to another...


I checked my Microsoft account, and sure enough, a new Bitlocker key was created today. When I connect the drive, the Bitlocker window gave me a Key ID, this ID matches the ID of the newly created key on my account, HOWEVER, the corresponding 48 digit code does not unlock the hard drive.


I know I can fix the drive by formatting it, but there are files on it that I haven't backed up and don't want to lose. Has anyone else encountered a problem like this and is there a solution?


It's a home computer only used on my home network. I ran a security scan and the are no security threats.


The drive is a Seagate GoFlex 320 GB, 7200 RPM HDD


The offending PC is an Asus Transformer T200

Windows 10 Home version 1803, build 17134.523

Intel Atom CPU Z3775 1.46GHz

2 GB RAM

32-bit operating system, x64 based processor

:)

 

External Hard Drive Locked Automatically by Bitlocker

I have a problem with my external hard drive. It appears that Bitlocker locked it without my knowledge. I have never even heard of Bitlocker before my File Explorer told me that the drive was locked by Bitlocker.

I have no password because I did not set it up. As for the recovery key, I was able to retrieve it from my Microsoft Account. However, when I used it, Windows 10 did not accept the recovery key.

How do I recover my files from my external hard drive?

Thanks,

Rob

 

Bitlocker locking external drive without permission

Hello,

I am one of many users that are locked out from our external HDD without permission from the main user. See the link below for more details of the same issue by different users:

BitLocker locked my external harddrive by itself?!

Is there a solution? Is there any way for me to unlock my external HDD without the recovery key and retrieve the information stored?

Thanks,

Gary

[Moved from:Windows/Windows 10/Devices & drivers]

 

Help with external hard drive

Hi Debbra,

Welcome to Microsoft Community.

I appreciate your interest in windows 10 and also for trying the troubleshooting steps to fix the issue. I understand the inconvenience you faced. I will certainly help you with this.

I would suggest you to plug in hard drive then check in disk management you can see the drive or not.

Follow the steps to check Drive in Disk Management.

• 
  Go to the Control Panel then click on the
  Administrative Tools. .
  
• 
  Under the Administrative Tool Click on Computer Management.
  
• 
  Click on Disk Management and check the External Hard Drive.
  

Also check in BIOS whether External Hard Drive is listed or not.

For help with the BIOS settings, refer to the computer manual or contact the manufacturer.

If it doesn’t work then, I would suggest you to update BIOS for updating BIOS contact Lenovo Support.

Follow the link:

Home - Global Support - FR

Disclaimer :

Modifying BIOS/complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) settings incorrectly can cause serious problems that may prevent your computer from booting properly. Microsoft cannot guarantee that any problems resulting from the configuring of BIOS/CMOS settings
can be solved. Modifications of the settings are at your own risk.

Hope this information is helpful. Please do let us know if you need further assistance, we’ll be glad to assist you.

Thanks.