How to Remove Write Protection From External Hard Drive Windows 10

“I am having an external hard drive of 1 TB. Recently, I planned to copy some files from Windows 10 to my external hard drive. But when I tried to copy the files on the external hard drive, the message popped up saying the ‘This disk is write-protected. Remove the write-protection or use another disk.’. I clicked on Try Again button but nothing worked. I really want to copy some files into my external hard drive as they are very important files. I am not able to understand what is write-protected on my external hard drive. Please suggest me a simple and reliable solution to fix external hard drive write protected windows 10 error.”

Are you also facing write-protection issues on the external hard drive, USB flash drive, SD card or Windows hard drive? Not able to access hard drive data due to write-protection error? Want to fix the issue without any data loss? Do not worry, fortunately, you are landed on the correct page.

As in this blog, we are going to discuss multiple methods to remove write protection from the external hard drive on Windows 10 Operating system.

Have You Ever Thought Why Write Protection Issue Occurs?

Due to write-protection error on an external hard drive, SD card, Windows hard drive etc. the user is not able to save or transfer any file in hard drive. Some of the possible reasons which make a hard drive write-protected are corruption in hard drive, alteration in registry or permissions and encryption of hard drive etc.

In some cases, the user is able to access the data when write-protected hard drive issues occur. But the user is not able to perform operations like write, paste new files and folders. This makes the drive literally unusable.

Thus, it is important to remove write-protection from the hard drive. Find best possible ways to remove write protection from hard disk.

Solutions to Remove Write Protection from External Hard Drive

In this section, we are going to discuss different solutions to remove write protection on hard drive in windows 10 Operating system. After implementing the solution the user will be able to access his/her data and other files present on the hard drive. Moreover, the user will also be able to perform operations such as write, paste new files and folders.

1. Steps to Recover Lost Files from Write Protected Hard Disk
2. Remove Write Protection Hard Disk by Unlocking Physical Switch
3. Remove Write Protection from Hard Drive Using Diskpart Windows 10
4. Remove Write Protection from Hard Drive Using Windows Registry
5. Remove Write Protection from External HDD Using BitLocker Windows 10

What If Your Data Is Lost While Removing Write Protection From External Hard Drive on Windows 10?

While removing or disabling the write protection from the hard drive, the users face data loss issue. Thus, in case of any data loss issue, the user can make use of an automated and smart utility that name is SysTools Hard Disk Recovery Wizard. With this tool, the user can recover corrupt, lost or permanently deleted files from without any hassle.

Additionally, the software also recovers photos, videos, music, documents and other multimedia files from any external or internal hard drive. It is an efficient, feature-rich and easy-to-use software. It also supports formatted and corrupted FAT, exFat and NTFS file system. The foremost part of the utility it provides free demo version. You can download this utility at any version of Windows.

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Method 2: Remove Write Protection from Hard Disk by Unlocking Physical Switch

Most of the SD card, USB and hard drive manufacturers add a switch. Once the drive or SD card is locked with the switch lock then the device becomes write-protected on all PC or devices.

Note: There will be no data loss issue while applying this method to remove write protection from hard drive, SD card etc.

• Remove Write Protection from SD Card
  
• Remove Write Protection from USB Drive
  

Method 3: Remove Write Protection from Hard Drive Using Diskpart

The user can apply this method to remove write-protection on internal or external hard drive. Moreover, it also works on SD card or USB flash drive. Follow the steps given below to implement the method and fix hard drive write protected issue.

1. First of all, you need to press Windows+R and then type: cmd and press Enter key to open Command Prompt.
2. Now, you have to type: diskpart and hit Enter key to open diskpart.
3. After that, type: list disk and hit Enter key. Here, you have to remember the disk number of your write protected hard drive.
   
4. Next, type: select disk 2 and hit Enter key. Here, 2 is the number of your write protected hard drive.
5. Type: attributes disk clear readonly and press Enter key to disable the write-protection on the storage device
6. Once the write protection removing process is completed, close the diskpart window

Method 4: Remove Write Protection from Hard Drive Using Windows Registry

Before tempering windows registry, make sure you are aware with action and their result. Because if anything goes wrong can cause serious issue instead of resolving hard disk write protected issue. Follow the steps listed below:

1. First, you need click on the Start to open Run dialog and then type: regedit and hit Enter to open Registry
   
2. Now, click on HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > Expand System
3. After that, click on the Current Control Set in the System list and then click on the Control
   
4. Next, you need to check Storage Device Policies > Change the digit in the DWORD value box into 0
   
5. After that, to save the changes you need to click on the OK button
6. Finally, exit Regedit and reboot PC to keep all changes

Method 5: Remove Write Protection from External HDD Using BitLocker

When the user enables BitLocker on the hard drive partition, it protects the files by applying encryption feature. As a result of which, the user would not be able to do any changes to the BitLocker partition. Thus, it becomes important to remove or unlock the protection from it. Perform the steps listed below:

1. Open This PC and right-click on the BitLocker partition or storage devices and select Manage BitLocker.
   
2. Now, you have to select the right partition which is write-protected by BitLocker and click on the Turn off BitLocker.
   
3. After that, you need to wait as the BitLocker will decrypt on its own.
   
4. You will be able to see your partition or hard drive showing BitLocker off.
   
5. Finally, you can manage data on your partition without BitLocker write protection and save new files to it

Conclusion

Due to the write protection issues with hard drives, the user is not able to transfer his/her data. Moreover, the is also not allowed to perform various the operation such as write, paste new files. Therefore, to resolve this write-protection error, we have explained different methods in the above section. You reached at the bottom of write-up means you have gone through all steps listed above. I am sure that now your concern for how to remove write protection from external hard drive has been resolved. Having any issue feel free to contact!

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