Windows Vista yet another external HD question

Hey ya'll. Just found this forum and looks like I've come to the right place for advice as well as hopefully giving advice!

Here's what's going on. I have an xp laptop drive that I ripped out of a laptop then went belly up with no chance of non costly repair. I encased it in a barracuda enclosure and have had no problem saving things from my Vista system to this HD.

Well, now it's coming time to burn everything I put on there as well as the files that were on there when the prior laptop went kaput but I cannot access any of the Program Files folders or Documents and Settings folders to see what I need to save and burn! I have tried adding my account on this laptop to the security settings and also run as admin to try to access it but neither worked. I also went into the registry and changed the LCS (I think that's what it was) from 3 to 1 with a reboot and still nothing. Any ideas?

 

Take ownership of a folder:

Right-click the folder, select Properties > Security Tab > Advanced at the bottom > Owner Tab > Edit > Highlight your username and put a tick in ‘Replace owner on sub containers…’ and Apply > OK. You will only have the ‘Replace owner on subcontainers…’ box for folders not files. Click Yes when you receive the Security pop-up window then click OK to the Close/Reopen message. Make a note of the previous owner in case you want to change it back.

Depending what you want to do, go back to the Properties > Security Tab. Click Edit > Add. Type in your User Account Name in the box under Enter the objects name to select. Click on Check Names > OK. Click on your User Account Name to highlight it. Check the box for Full Control > Apply and OK, etc.

 

Thank you for the quick response and that did work to a point. I am now able to get into the folders to view the file names and such but unfortunately I am unable to copy them over onto the local hard drive for burning! Tried setting permissions on each file the way I did the folders but unfortunately still no go.

 

Do you get an error message? If so, what is it?

Is it,perhaps, a read only attribute?

 

The message I get is that I don't have permission to copy the file...access denied.

That's one of the first things I made sure is that the file I was running the tests on (which is a basic text file made in notepad when I had the other laptop) was taken off of read only mode

 

Ok, just putting in an update. Finally got the superadmin activated and went back in thru that route to access the XP hard drive but with no luck at all. Will try to do the same from an old Dell XP laptop I have here and will let ya know. Any other help would be appreciated though!

 

Ok, back and with the external drive on the XP laptop. I enabled the superuser account in the Registry then logged into the account. Still not able to access the folders in documents and Settings folder. The error message says e:\Documents and Settings\Jammer is not accesible Access is Denied

Made sure that read only was off as well.

 

That’s really odd!

Here is a straw-clutcher, try it on the Vista machine:

Right-click Computer > Manage > Storage > Disk Management then right-click the external drive graphic > Properties > Security Tab > Edit > Add then type ‘Everyone’ (not the quotes) > OK and below it select your preferences, e.g. Read or Full Control. Now Apply, OK, etc. to finish.

 

It sounds like you're caught up in this puzzle as much as I am now lol. in over 10 years of running tech support teams, it was very rare to get beaten by a computer!

Ok, so anyway (lol) did exactly what you said and still no go on accessing any files. I did that thru Administrative tools before but not that way so of course had to give it a shot. Will try going thru it in safe mode, admin mode, as well as both modes on the XP machine. This puzzle will be solved though! lol

Will keep searching and posting different things that were tried for the rest of the online community though.