Retrieving Data From Old Drive

[Capt Proton]

I had a hard drive start to go bad. I installed a new hard drive and did a fresh install of XP Home on it. I then hooked up the old hard drive to try to get some data off it. I can see everything all right, but, when I try to open or copy the Owner Documents And Settings folder so I can get to the old My Documents, I get the message that I don't have sufficient rights to access the folder. I tried changing it from Read Only, but that doesn't stick, and was no help. I thought if I went in Safe Mode as the administrator, I would be able to access it, but, I could not. Another interesting aspect is that the drive is almost full, only 944 MBs free on a 40 Gig drive. I know most of that is in the My Documents folder, pictures and music files, but, when I look at properties for the Documents and Settings Folder, or hover the cursor over it, it tells me the folder is empty.

Any suggestions as to how to get to my data?

[AnUnknownSource]

Try logging in as administrator on your new install, just hit CTRL-ALT-DEL at the login screen to access the Administrator account using the password you gave it at setup... if that doesn't work, give us some more info... also check out PC Inspector File Recovery...

[Cobia69]

I just heard about a this today via lifehacker.com Curious if it will work for you, give it a try and let us know.

 

http://www.roadkil.net/unstopcp.html

[red930]

Part One -

 

Open Explorer(not Internet Explorer)

Click Tools>Folder Options

Click the View tab.

Scroll all the way to the bottom and uncheck "Use simple file sharing"

Click OK

 

This gets you access to the stuff you need to change since you can already see the folders where your data is located.

 

 

Part Two -

 

Navigate to the folder that you are trying to access the files in.

Right click and select Properties.

Click the Security tab.

Click the Advanced button at the lower right.

Click to highlight the user you are currently logged into the rig with.

Put a check in the box next to the bottom line that reads, "Replace permission entries on all child objects blah blah blah".

Click OK

 

Things will churn about for a while since every file inside that folder and all folders below will be accesses to change the security settings.

 

You can now click OK to close the remaining open dialog.

 

Rinse and repeat for any and all folders that you want access too.