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Were the pictures copied to the external drive using the same Windows 10 or some other machine? <br />
You can activate the local Administrator account and login your Windows under it. There take ownership of the data and folders on the drive in question.
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Give me a day or two to respond. Am away from my system
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I tried it ion two other computers but with no joy. I also spent a long time trying out the other solutions given but again no joy. I retried but no success. However I did learn that the items within the blocked folders are not of any great importance . I have an idea that about 3 years ago I posed the v same question about the very same blocked folders on the same external drive - and got nowhere. The folders seemed to have been corrupted. All other folders on this drive are accessed without difficulty. I want to close this question now but am not sure of my options to close. Thanks for help.
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Maybe your drive gone bad? Does it happen with another HDD?
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No. Never happened with any other HDD.
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Then the problem is in this HDD. I would not dare to keep my data on such drive.
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It is a WD My Passport Ultra
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If the problem is only with this drive then the drive is bad.
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I need some advice as to how &nbsp;I should close this question being fair to all who have contributed. I did not solve my issue, it is suggested by some contributors, because the external drive is corrupted. However I think that it might also be possible &nbsp;that the folders involved are themselves corrupted in some way, as are the files contained therein. <br />
However on the general issue of permissions &nbsp;the Experts above have given clear &nbsp;and comprehensive directions as to what might be done . &nbsp;So I would not want to delete the question. <br />
How should I proceed? Can I award a best answer etc
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test the drive with the lifeguard diag : &nbsp;<a href="http://support.wdc.com/downloads.aspx?lang=en" rel="ugc">http://support.wdc.com/downloads.aspx?lang=en</a>
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Tested it, the extended test lasting 7 hours and 58 minutes. It passed.
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what happens if you copy a picture, or folder to the external disk ?<br />
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can you also not open it?
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Copied picture and folder containing pictures to the external disk and there was no problem opening same. <br />
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It would seem the problem is with those &nbsp;very few folders and the very few &nbsp;files therein - &nbsp;corrupt. <br />
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How do I close this question when the problem cannot be solved (in fact the solution is that there is no solution - the files and folders are corrupt). How do I close?
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As said - if the problem is only on this drive then you need to replace the drive. This is the solution.
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Is it possible that the problem was not on the drive but that the folder with files which I put on it were already corrupted? They transferred to the drive, but because of corruption could not be accessed. &nbsp;Alternatively could I have made a mistake in the method of transferring the folder to the drive, which rendered the folder inaccessible? . <br />
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Reason I am asking this is that the numerous other folders (some 250 GB of folders) &nbsp;which are on this external drive can all be opened (apart from this one folder. Also new folders can be put on the drive and their contents opened, and the test I ran on the drive, lasting 7 hours plus, found no problem.
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This would seem to be the answer. &nbsp; All other explanations seem to be ruled out, or less likely.
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Windows 10. Dell Inspiron 1500 series. <br />
I have an external drive where I store photographs. Tried to open a folder containing photos. There was a lock on the Folder icon. When I clicked I was told I did not have permission to open that folder. What to do? (I took the photographs, I put them onto the external drive, I am the only user of the laptop etc).
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Windows 10. Dell Inspiron 1500 series. 
I have an external drive where I store photographs. Tried to open a folder containing photos. There was a lock on the Folder icon. When I clicked I was told I did not have permission to open that folder. What to do? (I took the photographs, I put them onto the external drive, I am the only user of the laptop etc).

Permission to open folder denied.

Photo and imaging software is used to edit and compose raster images; Adobe Photoshop, which dominates the market, has its own topic. Common actions include cropping, slicing, retouching, color replacement, masking and erasing. Other programs include Apple Photo, Corel PaintShop Pro, GIMP, Serif PhotoPlus, Pixlr, PhotoScape, Picasa and IrfanView.

Images and Photos

Storage devices include any device used for storing and retrieving digital information. Hard disk drives (HDDs) use one or more rigid ("hard") rapidly rotating disks (platters) coated with magnetic material. Data is accessed in a random-access manner, meaning that individual blocks of data can be stored or retrieved in any order and not only sequentially. The primary competing technology for secondary storage is flash memory in the form of solid-state drives (SSDs), but HDDs remain the dominant medium for secondary storage due to advantages in price per bit and per-device recording capacity. CD-RW (Compact Disc-ReWritable) is a digital optical disc storage format that allows information to be stored outside the mechanical HDD.

Storage Hardware

Photo and imaging software is used to edit and compose raster images; Adobe Photoshop dominates the market. Common actions include cropping, slicing, retouching, color replacement, masking and erasing. Other programs include GIMP, Serif PhotoPlus, Pixlr, PhotoScape, Picasa and IrfanView.

Photos / Graphics Software

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