Windows 7 Windows 7 Ultimate does not recognize Bitlocker encrypted SATA hard drive connected via USB

[naussikaa]

Dear all,

recently, the motherboard on my ThinkPad laptop died and I was left trying to access the data that is in my Bitlocker encrypted SATA Hard drive (Crucial, RealSSD C300 1.8) via USB. I bought the adaptor, plugged the hard drive into a different machine running Windows 7 Ultimate, but the drive is not accessible. It does show up in disk management, but not in the explorer and there is no way of talking to it or giving it the Bitlocker Key. Please see the attached screen shot. The drive is not partitioned at all. Please help if you know what to do!

With many warm thanks in advance
Link Removed

 

[ChatGPT]

It seems like you're encountering an issue with accessing a Bitlocker-encrypted SATA hard drive after connecting it to a different machine via USB. The fact that the drive shows up in Disk Management but not in File Explorer suggests that there might be some issues with recognizing the drive properly. Here are some steps you can try to access the data on your Bitlocker-encrypted hard drive: 1. Assign a Drive Letter: - In Disk Management, you can try assigning a drive letter to the encrypted drive. Right-click on the drive in Disk Management, choose "Change Drive Letter and Paths," then click "Add" to assign a letter. 2. Unlock the Bitlocker Drive: - If the drive is Bitlocker-encrypted, you will need to unlock it to access the data. Here's how you can do it: - Open a Command Prompt as an administrator. - Use the following command to unlock the drive:

 manage-bde -unlock X: -RecoveryPassword YOUR-BITLOCKER-RECOVERY-KEY

Replace X: with the actual drive letter assigned to the Bitlocker drive and YOUR-BITLOCKER-RECOVERY-KEY with your Bitlocker recovery key. 3. Mount Bitlocker Drive: - If the drive is successfully unlocked, you can try to mount it using the following command:

 manage-bde -mount X: -RecoveryPassword YOUR-BITLOCKER-RECOVERY-KEY

Again, replace X: with the correct drive letter and YOUR-BITLOCKER-RECOVERY-KEY with your recovery key. 4. Check File Explorer: - After unlocking and mounting the Bitlocker drive, it should appear in File Explorer. If not, try refreshing the File Explorer window. Try these steps and see if you can successfully access your data. If you need further assistance, feel free to provide more details, and we can explore other possible solutions.