SATA Drive Inaccessible After Installing Windows 10

“I just upgraded from Windows 7.1 to the latest Windows 10 release via the Upgrade link, and Windows Update. However, I cannot access the SATA HDD, on which I have backed up important files. The HDD shows up under Disk Management, however when trying to click on the HDD (Drive E), I will get a message stating that the Drive is not accessible.”

It is unfortunate that your SATA HDD which has important data is not accessible. Do not worry, we will assist you in getting your data back and make the drive accessible again. By looking at the case, you are unable to access the drive because of permission issue, driver issue or the HDD is corrupt. Troubleshooting these issue may give you access to the SATA HDD. Let us see the methods to troubleshoot the problem.

Manual Methods

Troubleshoot Hardware

Try running the Hardware Troubleshooter. It will check for common problems and ensures that any hardware or new device connected to the PC is installed properly.

• To begin with, type Troubleshooting in the search box and double-click on it to open.
• Now, click on “Hardware and Sound” and then click “Hardware and Devices” and follow the onscreen instructions to complete the process.
• Restart your computer, you should be able to access the drive now.

Permission Issues

If you are still unable to access the drive, try below mentioned steps to access the inaccessible SATA HDD on Windows 10;

• Right click the inaccessible drive and select Properties.
• In the Properties windows, click Security and then click Edit button.
• A new window will open, select Authenticated User and click Add button.
• In the Permission section, check-mark full control and click OK.
• You’ll get two option – continue and cancel. First click continue and then cancel.
• Restart PC.

Automated Method

When the hard drive becomes inaccessible, formatting it will make the drive accessible but you will lose all the data stored in it. To avoid that, you can use hard drive data recovery tool which can recover data from inaccessible SATA HDD without altering the original file structure.

Yodot Hard Drive Recovery program can retrieve files from inaccessible SATA HDD and other storage drives. It supports recovery of all types data like photos, videos, documents, RAW images, compressed folders and files, emails etc. It even retrieves data from crashed hard drive, drive having bad sectors, RAW hard drive, failed and formatted drives. Download the program on your PC and follow the steps mentioned below:

Instructions to Recover Data from Inaccessible SATA HDD After Windows 10 Upgrade:

• After downloading the software on a different drive, launch the program and select “Formatted/Re-Formatted Recovery” option.
• Next, select the inaccessible drive that you want to recover the data from it.
• The software starts scanning the drive and the recovered data will be in File Type View and Data Type mode.
• After selecting the required files from the list, save them to a different drive or to a DVD/CD.

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