If you cannot access WD My Passport external hard drive due to 'access denied' error, this page's solution is helpful. If gaining permissions does not fix the issue, download EaseUS hard drive recovery software to retrieve and export data from inaccessible WD My Passport.
WD My Passport external hard drive access denied
'It seems that I can no longer access my files on WD My Passport external hard drive. I get the error message of access denied. The detailed information is in the screenshot. How to rectify the problem and get into the drive without losing data?'
Either keep the HDD in HFS+ format and install HFS+ drivers in your Windows PC or keep the HDD in NTFS format and install NTFS drivers on your Mac. Use NTFS Paragon, or Tuxera for Mac for you to enable NTFS write support on OS X (natively, OS X provides read support only).
If you can't access WD My Passport external hard drive due to access denied error, there's a huge possibility that you don't have permissions to operate on the drive. And, this happens a lot in the situation when you connect the external HDD to a new desktop or laptop that requires permission to access data or files somewhere on it.
How to get rid of 'WD My Passport access denied' error on Windows 10
When such an access denied error occurs, you're confronting a serious fact that you can no longer open the drive and view data there. So, it's urgent to find a way to remove the error and protect data.
To obtain the permission in order to remove this error on My Passport, follow the guide carefully.
1. Connect WD drive to your PC, right-click on the WD My Passport external hard drive and select Properties.
2. Click the Security tab.
3. At the bottom of the tab, next to 'For special permissions or advanced settings. click Advanced. So, click the Advanced button.
4. Click Change permissions button.
5. Click a permission entry so as to add, remove or edit the permission.
How to recover data from WD My Passport access denied
Hope that the given solution has solved the access denied problem perfectly.
Otherwise, try at least to recover data from inaccessible WD hard drive with the best Western Digital disk recovery software.
EaseUS hard drive recovery software can help WD users access files and folders when My Passport encountered access denied error. Let it help safeguard data whenever WD hard drive detected but won't open.
Keep Noted: Please don't format or reset the hard drive once it becomes inaccessible. To restore important data from inaccessible hard drive should be your first mission. Here below is a detail hard drive data recovery guide for you to follow, try and get your lost data back.
Step 1. Run Software and select a location
Launch EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard on your computer.
Select the hard drive which becomes inaccessible on your PC.
Click Scan to let this program scan and find your hard drive data.
Step 2. Scan to Find Lost Data
EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard will full scan and find all your data on the inaccessible hard drive.
And, after the scanning, you can preview and check found files on the scanning result window now:
Deleted Files: browse to see all deleted files here.
Drive (with your drive name): all lost files are listed here.
Lost Partition Files: if you once deleted your hard drive partition or formatted it, check and find data here.
Extra Files: a quick access to your inaccessible data and raw files.
Step 3. Restore Hard Drive Data
Finally, select the items you want to get back and click 'Recover'.
Choose a secure location (second hard drive partition on your PC or another external storage device).
And then click 'OK' to start recovering all lost data from your inaccessible hard drive now.
Western Digital partitions the 2TB My Passport external hard drives into a single NTFS partition which is optimized for Windows operating systems. This single partition makes reformatting the drive possible through Windows 8's Disk Management utility without needing to create a new volume. However, you should back up any important data on the drive before reformatting it. After the format is completed, any data on the drive will be lost.
Step 1
Connect the 2TB My Passport drive to your computer using the USB cable.
Step 2
Press 'Win-X' to open Windows 8's utility menu and select 'Disk Management.' Alternatively, right-click the lower left corner of the screen and select 'Disk Management.'
Step 3
Right-click the external drive's letter from either pane in Disk Management and select 'Format.'
Step 4
Click the 'File System' drop-down menu and select 'NTFS' if you plan to use the drive only in Windows operating systems. If you also need to use the drive on a Mac, select 'exFAT.' Optionally, enter a name for the drive in the Volume Label field. This name helps identify the drive in File Explorer.
Step 5
Uncheck 'Perform a Quick Format' to ensure that you thoroughly erase data on the drive. Disabling this option will greatly increase the format time. Keep this option checked if you're not worried about security and desire a fast reformat.
Click 'OK' to format the drive. Depending on your previous selection and your computer speed, formatting could take seconds or hours.