Have you connected your internal or external hard drive to the PC and got error that disk is write protected. Well, if you are getting this error message and want to remove write protection from internal & external hard drive then do not worry. I am saying so because here, in this blog, you will get to know how to remove write protection from hard drive in easy ways. But, before that, let us know something about what does write protected mean and how it can be removed easily from external or internal hard drives.
What Does ‘Disk Is Write Protected’ Mean?
Write protection is also known as read-only. This issue can be physical or virtual. Usually, when the internal or external hard drive or other storage devices like USB flash drives are enabled with write protection, a user will not at all able to make any write or read operation to it. And, so the user is allowed to read the data already stored on it. It means if your disk is write protected then the data loss on it caused by correct operations can be avoided.
How To Remove Write Protection From Internal & External Hard Drives
Below are the most working fixes that you can apply to remove write protection from internal & external hard drives. So, try them and easily remove write protection from internal & external hard drive.
#1: Check & Fix Hard Disk Errors
The first solution you should try to remove write protection from internal & external hard drive is to check and fix any kind of disk error you get.
- First of all, you have to first open File Explorer and then right click on the write protected drive.
- Next, you have to select the ‘Properties’ and after click the ‘Tools’ tab.
- Now, under the ‘Error Checking’ option and then simply click the ‘Check’ button. After doing this, a pop-up will appear.
- Next, click ‘Scan’ and let the system scan and then fix the affected hard drive.
#1: Use Diskpart Command Utility
Diskpart utility is an effective utility that can be used to fix write protection from USB flash drive or hard drives. So, let’s just give a try to this effective method and to do so, you have to follow the below steps:
- Firstly, open a command prompt in admin mode and then type there ‘diskpart’ and then press Enter key.
- Now, type there list disk and then press Enter key and after that write ‘select disk X’ and then type there attributes disk clear readonly and finally again press Enter key.
- Next, you have to press there exit and then press Enter key.
After this, close the window of command prompt and check the disk for operability after you restart the system.
#3: Use Regedit Command Utility
You can also try to remove write protection from hard drive using regedit command. This command is based on the editing the registry of the computer’s OS.
- For this, you have to first press the Windows + R keys together.
- Now, in the blank line, you have to type the command ‘regedit’ and then press Enter key.
- Now, go to the registry location.
- After this, go to the below mentioned registry location:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\StorageDevicePolicies
- Now, you have to find the key named WriteProtect and then double click it. There, a new DWORD window will open where you will have to select a value 0 or 1.
- Here, 0 removes disk write protection
- 1 sets the write protection on disk
- As per the requirement, enter 0 and then press OK.
After this, you have to restart the computer and then reconnect the internal or external hard drive. Now, the disk should be available to save, edit or copy the data easily.
Final Verdict
If you find that your internal & external hard drive is write protected when you connect it to your computer the stop worrying. Just make sure that you try the fixes mentioned above and remove write protection from hard drive in easy ways.
All these three fixes are very easy to apply that you do not even need any technical knowledge to fix this issue. So, all the very best to you.
