Unallocated disk and write-protected
philemon44
Posted messages
125
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Member
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Lolo33 -
Lolo33 -
Hello,
Everything is in the title.
I have a 2.5-inch WD external drive that is not recognized by my computer.
In the device manager, it is recognized just fine, and the same in disk management.
The problem is that the disk is unallocated and I can't change anything.
Right-clicking offers the option to initialize it, but I get the error "media is write-protected." In the properties tab, I don't have a security tab.
I saw that the problem might come from the registry:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\StorageDevicePolicies]. and ensure that the DWORD value: WriteProtect = 0
but it turns out that in control I don't have "StorageDevicePolicies" but storage, and inside I have a "default" string.
Do you have any ideas? The simplest solution will be the best (it's okay if I have to format it).
Configuration: Windows 7 / Chrome 24.0.1312.57
Everything is in the title.
I have a 2.5-inch WD external drive that is not recognized by my computer.
In the device manager, it is recognized just fine, and the same in disk management.
The problem is that the disk is unallocated and I can't change anything.
Right-clicking offers the option to initialize it, but I get the error "media is write-protected." In the properties tab, I don't have a security tab.
I saw that the problem might come from the registry:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\StorageDevicePolicies]. and ensure that the DWORD value: WriteProtect = 0
but it turns out that in control I don't have "StorageDevicePolicies" but storage, and inside I have a "default" string.
Do you have any ideas? The simplest solution will be the best (it's okay if I have to format it).
Configuration: Windows 7 / Chrome 24.0.1312.57
8 answers
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I tested it on several USB ports on several PCs. The cable is the one sold with it, so no issues there. For me, the writing problem comes from the MBR being damaged, but it is impossible to repair it with software since the drive is unallocated. And to fix this unallocated write problem, I need the drive to not be write-protected, which is a Catch-22 situation.
