Why is my Western Digital Elements drive stuck in read-only mode?

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Asked By DigitalNomad34 On

I've been using my Western Digital Elements external drive for about two years without any issues. Recently, I tried to copy files onto it, but I kept getting permission errors. I noticed a message on my Mac saying that the drive wasn't ejected properly. While I can still access all the files, I cannot write anything to the drive. When I check the drive info, it states 'You can only read,' and the options to change permissions are grayed out. I attempted to uncheck 'Ignore ownership on this volume,' but that resulted in an error: 'The operation can't be completed - an unexpected error occurred (error code -50).' Disk Utility also shows the drive as read-only with ownership disabled. Attempts to reformat the drive fail unless I go into Recovery Mode, but even then, it remains read-only, showing an error: 'An internal error has occurred. : (-69623) - Operation failed.' Additionally, when running First Aid, I get a message saying, 'File system verify or repair failed. : (-69845).' Is my drive failing?

2 Answers

Answered By TechSavvy81 On

Yeah, it definitely sounds like your drive is failing. You might want to back up anything important off of it as soon as possible, just in case!

Answered By DataRescueRanger On

For sure, sounds like it’s in bad shape. You can try using DriveDx, a tool that shows pre-fail conditions of your drive. Given your situation, you might see a lot of warning signs there.

GadgetGuru45 -

Hmm, I might check that out. What kind of issues should I be looking for in the DriveDx report?

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