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external hard drive, access denied

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I've downloaded a 5GB file which I was going to transfer to an external 500GB hard drive to update a satnav, but it says access denied. I've googled a couple of sites and they can see what is on the drive etc. but still can't access it. Any ideas?
Plan B is to transfer it straight from the laptop to the car.
Thanks
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Comments

  • Sicard
    Sicard Posts: 865 Forumite
    Ninth Anniversary 500 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    It could be several reasons. Is the external HDD NTFS or FAT? If it's the latter the file size could be the problem as that file format has a limited size for each file.
    How much space is left on the HDD?
    Alternatively try error checking it.
    You know what uranium is, right? It's this thing called nuclear weapons. And other things. Like lots of things are done with uranium. Including some bad things.
    Donald Trump, Press Conference, February 16, 2017

  • I guess the downloaded satnav update is still on the laptop and irrelevant for now.

    Does the external hard drive show up when you connect it to the laptop ?

    If using Windows does right-clicking the drive give you any options ?

    The last satnav that I had would only update from a correctly formatted USB thumb drive with only the latest file on it, not sure if connecting an external drive or laptop will work unless your nav system allows you to navigate to the specific file.
  • Ergates
    Ergates Posts: 3,028 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Do you mean you're getting "access denied" when you try to write the file to the hard drive? 

    Or when you try to update the satnav in the car?
  • firbyfred
    firbyfred Posts: 432 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Combo Breaker
    I guess the downloaded satnav update is still on the laptop and irrelevant for now.

    Does the external hard drive show up when you connect it to the laptop ?

    If using Windows does right-clicking the drive give you any options ?

    The last satnav that I had would only update from a correctly formatted USB thumb drive with only the latest file on it, not sure if connecting an external drive or laptop will work unless your nav system allows you to navigate to the specific file.
    Ergates said:
    Do you mean you're getting "access denied" when you try to write the file to the hard drive? 

    Or when you try to update the satnav in the car?
    Its when I plug it into the laptop, it says access denied. I've been on a couple of sites but all they seem to do is view the various files on the external hard drive.

    I have a 32GB usb stick which I was originally going to put the 5GB file on, but I get the message that the file is too big, so not sure how to get over that problem.
     I've bought another 16GB stick but I'm worried that could be the same. 
    no debts
  • gefnew
    gefnew Posts: 930 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 500 Posts Name Dropper
    You have to check what file system is on usb stick.
    What File System Should I Use for My USB Drive? (howtogeek.com)
  • I had the same issue with a Toyota update, the formatting tools in Windows did not offer the correct options for a 64 GB thumb drive.

    I think it required FAT32 which is not supported on larger drives (32 GB +), so I had to download a third party formatting tool.

    You may be OK with a 16 GB drive.

    The programme was GUIFORMAT which is free and worked fine.

  • Ergates
    Ergates Posts: 3,028 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    firbyfred said:
    I guess the downloaded satnav update is still on the laptop and irrelevant for now.

    Does the external hard drive show up when you connect it to the laptop ?

    If using Windows does right-clicking the drive give you any options ?

    The last satnav that I had would only update from a correctly formatted USB thumb drive with only the latest file on it, not sure if connecting an external drive or laptop will work unless your nav system allows you to navigate to the specific file.
    Ergates said:
    Do you mean you're getting "access denied" when you try to write the file to the hard drive? 

    Or when you try to update the satnav in the car?
    Its when I plug it into the laptop, it says access denied. I've been on a couple of sites but all they seem to do is view the various files on the external hard drive.

    I have a 32GB usb stick which I was originally going to put the 5GB file on, but I get the message that the file is too big, so not sure how to get over that problem.
     I've bought another 16GB stick but I'm worried that could be the same. 
    Is there anything already on the hard drive that you need?

    If not, maybe reformat it .
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