Externals Drives all became Read Only. Not using USB. Struggling to correct.

[Matt_Stevens]

This is so annoying. I know this can happen when using eSATA air Firewire drives and then using USB instead of those connection. But that's not what has happened.

I have Windows 7 Pro (64-bit) and three external drives. Two I always use eSATA and the other Firewire 800. I just moved and after putting my system together, all three drives are Read Only. Simply right clicking on the folders in the drives and making them NOT Read Only doesn't work. The second I try to do something they are Read Only again.

I have Googled and tried some solutions, but am stumped. Is there a definitive fix for this?

These drives cannot be re-formatted. I say again... They cannot be re-formatted. What's on them is on them. I can't copy stuff to another drive, format this drive, move stuff back, etc. etc. No more space.

I am looking for a solution to kill this annoyance and would greatly appreciate educated responses. Thanks.

 

[C1]

Go into command line mode, check attributes and if they are +R then just make them -R.

Yes, WIN 7 still has such capability: http://www.computerhope.com/attribhl.htm

 

[Matt_Stevens]

I need detailed instructions, guys. I am not an expert. In fact, I found this here... and it did not work.

http://www.petri.co.il/external-hard-drive-read-only-solution.htm