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' Select disk X' tells diskpart to select the desired disk (the one which is write protected), The ' diskpart' command launches the disk partitioning program via the command line the " list disks" command then shows all disks attached to the system. So you can see what it looks like on the command line.Īnd, here is an explanation of what is happening:
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Line) - I'll explain what each command does further down: diskpartĮxit Click here to see a picture of everything I just said Next, type in the following into the command line (press Enter after each If you have any other external drives plugged in, unplug them except for the one that is write protected.
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I asked Larry if he would like me to connect to his system to have a closer look using my remote desktop support service, and he agreed.Īfter researching the issue, it appears that the Western Digital My Book drives use software called " WD Discovery" to lock and unlock the drive, though I could not find an option to disable the write protection. I have searched for 'wd my book read only remove write protect' in Google but I can't seem to find the answer.
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Also, if I right click the drive partition in Disk Management, the delete option is missing. I have also tried formatting the drive with Windows Disk Management but it fails. I have looked but there is no tab or switch on the USB drive to unlock orĭisable the write protect. I have tried formatting the My Book drive using File Explorer, but it tells me the drive is write protected. I don't know what's going on but all my files on my external western digital 'My Book' are marked as ' READ ONLY'.
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