Cannot write to external drives

[Haveri]

Hey everyone,

I hope it's the right place to ask this. I'm having a problem, when I connect my external hard drive to my desktop pc and try to copy to it, I receive the error:

 

"Error 0x80071AC3: the operation could not be completed because the volume is dirty"

I researched this a bit, and the error should indicate that the external drive might be damaged, or my usb ports are damaged. I tried this in 4 different usb ports on my pc, I also tried with a different hard drive (ssd this time) and the error persists. I double checked that those two external drives are perfectly fine (copying files into them) using another computer. 

 

I'm able to read from the drives but not write to them, not even create a new folder.

 

What could cause this? I'm using Windows 7 if it matters

 

Thanks so much!

[Radium_Angel]

4 minutes ago, Haveri said:

Thanks so much!

Possibly the electronics in the external drive bay have gone stupid, I've seen that before.

If you can remove the drive from the external drive bay, plug it directly into your system, and see what Windows says.

[Haveri]

3 minutes ago, Radium_Angel said:

Possibly the electronics in the external drive bay have gone stupid, I've seen that before.

If you can remove the drive from the external drive bay, plug it directly into your system, and see what Windows says.

Thank you Radium_Angel,

What do you mean by external drive bay? It's a regular external drive closed in a box with no screws, connected directly to the usb port.

Also, why do you think it's related to the drive itself if the error doesn't occur when I connect it to another computer? Isn't it somehow software related, or Windows 7 related maybe?

Thanks a lot in advance

[Radium_Angel]

1 minute ago, Haveri said:

It's a regular external drive closed in a box with no screws

So you can't remove the hard drive?

14 minutes ago, Haveri said:

I also tried with a different hard drive (ssd this time) and the error persists

I read this as you swapped the HDD out with a SSD in the same drive enclosure and still had issues. But am I correct then that the SSD is another external drive eclosure?

 

Windows 7 may have flagged the drive as "dirty", have you done a chkdsk on the drive when connected to Windows 7?

[Haveri]

3 minutes ago, Radium_Angel said:

So you can't remove the hard drive?

I read this as you swapped the HDD out with a SSD in the same drive enclosure and still had issues. But am I correct then that the SSD is another external drive eclosure?

 

Windows 7 may have flagged the drive as "dirty", have you done a chkdsk on the drive when connected to Windows 7?

I don't have a drive enclosure, they're connected via usb, like the regular external hard drives. Yes I tried with a HD drive and then with an SSD and got the same error.

I'm a bit afraid to run chkdsk because I assume the drives are ok because the work fine when connected to another computer. Would you recommend to still do it?

[Radium_Angel]

4 minutes ago, Haveri said:

I don't have a drive enclosure, they're connected via usb, like the regular external hard drives. Yes I tried with a HD drive and then with an SSD and got the same error.

I'm a bit afraid to run chkdsk because I assume the drives are ok because the work fine when connected to another computer. Would you recommend to still do it?

A drive enclosure, aka an external drive, is typically connected to a USB like this:

https://www.aliexpress.com/i/33040891524.html

 

A chkdsk won't hurt anything, unless the drive is really messed up, then I can't guarantee anything

https://neosmart.net/wiki/chkdsk/#Commands_and_parameters

 

I assume you've read this

https://www.transcend-info.com/Support/FAQ-807#:~:text=On a Windows system%2C the,not recognizing the external device.

 

[Haveri]

13 minutes ago, Radium_Angel said:

A drive enclosure, aka an external drive, is typically connected to a USB like this:

https://www.aliexpress.com/i/33040891524.html

 

A chkdsk won't hurt anything, unless the drive is really messed up, then I can't guarantee anything

https://neosmart.net/wiki/chkdsk/#Commands_and_parameters

 

I assume you've read this

https://www.transcend-info.com/Support/FAQ-807#:~:text=On a Windows system%2C the,not recognizing the external device.

 

It's a black box that I cannot open.

I tried to run chkdsk and no problems were found on the drive

 

Can it be somehow software related? The pc is a bit old (5 years), and the external drives are new.

Maybe motherboards drivers?

I don't know but it seems like it's not about hardware. I also tried to connect a disk on key and it works fine, so the usb ports are not the problem either

[Radium_Angel]

14 minutes ago, Haveri said:

Can it be somehow software related?

It certainly can be! The trick is...how to fix.

[Radium_Angel]

1 hour ago, Haveri said:

Maybe motherboards drivers?

Check Win7 for errors

 

sfc /scannow

[Shinon214]

uninstall USB and external drive drivers.
reinstall USB and chipset drivers.
restart PC

if it still persist

try doing this
run cmd as admin
X = your external drive letter
type

X:

press enter
type

chkdsk /f

press enter (r takes too much longer)

hopefully this will work.

if you the usb port is soldered to external drive board without any sata like these... RIP...
need to gehto hardwire sata port.

[Haveri]

Hey guys in the end I gave up and just installed Windows 10 and it fixed the problem

Really strange, I did try to update the USB drivers and also the specific drivers of the external hard drive..

 

Thanks a lot for your help anyway!