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Re: Hard Drive is Write Protected?

Discussion in 'Windows Vista' started by IrisedParhelion, Jun 14, 2009.

  1. I had been getting a number of messages stating "The media is write
    protected" for a hard-drive that is connected to the GIGABYTE SATA2
    controller on the GA-P35C-DS3R. The storage setup was as follows:

    Controller 1: GIGABYTE SATA2 controller (BIOS set to IDE mode, GIGABYTE
    drivers)
    C: 250GB WD SATA hdd (system)
    D: PATA DVD
    E: PATA DVD
    F: 250GB WD SATA hdd <---- affected drive

    Controller 2: Intel ICH9R (BIOS set to IDE mode, Microsoft generic IDE
    drivers)
    G: 250GB Maxtor SATA hdd
    H: 250GB Maxtor SATA hdd
    I: 250GB Maxtor SATA hdd
    J: 250GB Maxtor SATA hdd


    The issue had been intermittent but appeared to occur quite often while
    attempting to do a backup using shadow copying while also reading and
    writing files to the same disk. Rebooting the machine always cured the
    issue, but it would later remanifest.

    Some searching led me to the diskpart answer but Diskpart showed no
    "readonly" status. I also found the suggestion that folders had been
    marked as read-only, but while the folders on the drive did have the
    grey tick in the readonly box, this was not a black tick and so did not
    suggest that the folders themselves were readonly (besides, they are
    files no "media").



    =============================
    THE ANSWER:

    In Device Manager, under Storage Controllers, I right-clicked, Update
    Driver Software, clicked on the Browse, the List option, and chose the
    "Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller".

    =============================



    So far, several reboots, backups and file operations later and the
    issue has not recurred.


    Interestingly, this issue follows on from a total failure of the 4 disk
    RAID 0 array I had on the Intel ICH9R 6 port SATA controller in the same
    machine. This had been running fine for several months, and then
    resulted in the crippling of the machine. The computer posted fine, but
    got to the RAID BIOS screen and hung, and did so until 2 of the drives
    from the RAID array were removed. If the BIOS was re-entered and the
    RAID turned off in favour of "IDE mode" those 2 drives could be placed
    back into the machine and windows could boot, after which point the 2
    drives could be reinitialised. However, although the RAID array could be
    rebuilt in BIOS, on the next reboot the enter machine was crippled again
    in the same way. Updating the BIOS to the latest version did not resolve
    this, but reinstalling windows completely fixed the issue - that is
    until a certain number of windows updates had been applied.

    On this basis, I wonder if a recent windows update has created an issue
    for some storage controller drivers.


    Are other people getting "media is write protected" messages have
    manufacturer specific storage controller drivers installed?


    --
    IrisedParhelion
     

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