Vista - External drive suddenly read-only

hi there

im trying to regain write-access to an external hard drive which, after a reboot, Vista decided it would no longer let me write anything to...(worth repeating, i didnt change any setting in order for this to happen, i just rebooted!)

In an earlier question on this issue someone suggested the followin

The problem is that i cannot finally get the permissions back to normal following these steps. At the last "click on the OK button" i get an alert telling me various files are read only (Vista alerts to one file at a time, obviously) and therefore is unable to make the required changes. Any idea how i would get to really really regain control of this drive?

thanks

go to Windows Explorer and right click the drive and go to properties. Click on ADVANCED and you will see the current owner highlighted. Click on EDIT and then click on your username in the permissions list then APPLY. then you are the new owner. Then you can change what you like.

Regards

Jeff

PS: Dont forget to untick the read only box after you re-open properties and APPLY and answer YES to all folders and files

thanks for the reply JM..but im still having problems. I restarted a few times and had control back again yesterday, but this morning when i started, im locked out of 'write' again.

i take it you mean go into security tab in properties and click ADVANCED there? The highlighted permission is for EVERYBODY. When i click advanced, and attempted to change any of the permission, i get an error telling me such-and-such a file is write protected. which means, i cannot take control, or change any permissions... any further ideas would be great....i add again, i certainly have not asked vista at any point to change so that i am locked out of my own disk...what in goodness name is going on?

Hi woodentopz,
right click on the ext HDD, click properties, go to Security, then click, Edit, now click Add, then type your username at the box and click CheckNames. Click Apply. Then at the bottom (permissions), click Full Access and click Apply and Ok.

thanks for that info, dinesh i went through it, but when it finally came to apply, i got the same media is write-protected error.

There seem to be small differences in the layout of button etc in the properties box on my version of vista (64bit home premiumSP1) ie, 1) when i have finished doing the CheckNames, the choice is only 'OK' and not "Apply'. 2) when i have clicked 'OK' in the checknames panel, i am brought back to a panel in which i find a check box labelled "Full Control" (rather than Full Acess, and at the top of the checkbox list, rather than the bottom). In any case, i check the "full control" check box and click "Apply" at which point the "Error Applying Security" message, which informs me the media is write protected.

Yikes, but this Vista is a very unruly OS...

thanks for everyones suggestions so far, and thanks for any future hints / tips, and dare i say, solutions...