Jed Bridges
New Member
Hi all,
I'm having a problem that seems to be shared by many other users based on the number of forum threads i've come accross related to this topic. I'll describe it in some detail to avoid the usual advice which hasn't worked so far so please bear with me.
I am unable to move files onto external devices. Windows gives me a message to the effect "the drive is write-protected. Remove write protection or try another device" I've seen a lot of advice directed at fixing USBs but I think my computer is the problem because more than one device is affected.(both external hard drive and USB stick).
I just recently had my hard drive fail. I've had it replaced under warranty but it seems this may have been this trigger. The replacement hard drive is of a lower speed as they had run out of stock so I'll be replacing it yet again in a few days when the stock arrives. I'm hoping this may negate the problem but I'd like to back up a few more files in the meantime.
The most effective fixes for people in this situation seem to be changing the registry through the following path:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE>SYSTEM>CurrentControlSet>Control>StorageDeviceProperties
then changing the write protect file so the data value is set to 0.
Initially the folder 'StorageDeviceProperties' did not exist so i created the folder and the key within as per instructions from numerous forums. I also checked the ControlSet001 and 002. All were set correctly with no effect on the write protection of the devices.
Another effective solution for others was using the diskpart application within the 'cmd' function to select the volume of the drive and clear the readonly status. This also proved inneffective.
I've tried formatting the USB as a last resort, the write protection also prevents this. And as of this morning I'm unable to access the USB at all. It asks to be formatted before use, which doesn't work presumably because the write protection is still in place.
So my question is if there are any other known fixes to this problem which seems to be common in windows7 as well as in previous OS. If I do a clean install of windows as will happen when I replace the hard drive again, should the issue be fixed?
Thanks, Jed
I'm having a problem that seems to be shared by many other users based on the number of forum threads i've come accross related to this topic. I'll describe it in some detail to avoid the usual advice which hasn't worked so far so please bear with me.
I am unable to move files onto external devices. Windows gives me a message to the effect "the drive is write-protected. Remove write protection or try another device" I've seen a lot of advice directed at fixing USBs but I think my computer is the problem because more than one device is affected.(both external hard drive and USB stick).
I just recently had my hard drive fail. I've had it replaced under warranty but it seems this may have been this trigger. The replacement hard drive is of a lower speed as they had run out of stock so I'll be replacing it yet again in a few days when the stock arrives. I'm hoping this may negate the problem but I'd like to back up a few more files in the meantime.
The most effective fixes for people in this situation seem to be changing the registry through the following path:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE>SYSTEM>CurrentControlSet>Control>StorageDeviceProperties
then changing the write protect file so the data value is set to 0.
Initially the folder 'StorageDeviceProperties' did not exist so i created the folder and the key within as per instructions from numerous forums. I also checked the ControlSet001 and 002. All were set correctly with no effect on the write protection of the devices.
Another effective solution for others was using the diskpart application within the 'cmd' function to select the volume of the drive and clear the readonly status. This also proved inneffective.
I've tried formatting the USB as a last resort, the write protection also prevents this. And as of this morning I'm unable to access the USB at all. It asks to be formatted before use, which doesn't work presumably because the write protection is still in place.
So my question is if there are any other known fixes to this problem which seems to be common in windows7 as well as in previous OS. If I do a clean install of windows as will happen when I replace the hard drive again, should the issue be fixed?
Thanks, Jed
