computer help!!!!

[ATeamDan]

Im in need of desperate help, and don't know where else to turn but the good ole inf boards.......

story goes like so...

I had 50 gigs or so of music files saved on my old 80 gig hard drive....the only way to access the folder of my music was in "my documents" and on the desktop.....for christmas i got a new hard drive, 160 gigs, installed win xp on it, thinking i would be able to retrieve my music files in my documents much like i did every other time....however when you create a new windows account, you no longer have access to the my documents folder from the other hard drive, with the other version of windows on it.......i am wondering if there is anyway to bypass the encryption so i can get to my documents, or find another way to get my music files....i've tried everything including switching the master/slave combo, a re install.....copying the entire drive....to no avail......

thanks in advance...

 

[Thrash123]

To my knowledge, XP doesn't encrypt the drive.

What OS was the other drive running? Does the other drive show any data at all?

 

[M_O_DJerry]

I dont know if I understand you right, but if you create an account with administrator rights you have access to all files and folders. Try this.
Ah, which Windows version is on the old drive?

 

[ATeamDan]

it was win xp on the other drive. and its still there, i haven't formated it or anything....so it sucks cause all my files are there, i just can't access them....and yes windows does encrypt the documents and settings/ *owner* folder so it can't be accessed if another version of windows is installed.

 

[M_O_DJerry]

Did you try it with administrator rights?
Or can you boot from the old drive?

 

[geogob]

No, windows XP does not encrypt files expect if you are using EFS (which I doupt you do).

Permissions and Encryption are to separate things. Normally, only the owner and administrators can access Document and Settings of a specific user (which contains the desktop and My Documents). Using the Administrator account (not using you account setup with administrative priviledges) you should be able to change the permissions of those directory you cannot acces with your normal user. If you do not know how to do this, I recommand you search a little around on google.

Note that normaly, the "administrator" account is hidden in windows XP. You must either boot in safe mode or tweak you os to get to it.

 

[Hadmar]

What geogob said.
Do you actualy get an errormessage or do the files just not show up? I mean do you know where to look? Unless you changed it the files of the old windows/account are located on that harddrive in "documents and settings\[username]\desktop" and "documents and settings\[username]\my documents".

 

[ATeamDan]

i know where to look, just can't get there ....access is denied.

 

[geogob]

Ah forget something... with the "administrator" account, you will most likely need to do a "take ownership" on the directories you want to access. The change the permissions. You won't be able to access those directories until you have changed those permissions.

 

[Hadmar]

Yupp and IIRC you have to replace the permissions for the child objects in the advanced options otherwise the new permissions will only be effective for new files in that directory.

 

[ATeamDan]

how do i go about changing the permissions?

 

[TheShiningWizard]

Play around with the "Security" tab. You'll figure it out. I'm not very helpful.

 

[ATeamDan]

all i have is security and sharing.....nothing there...

 

[TheShiningWizard]

While you were logged into the Administrator account in safe mode?

 

[Hadmar]

Hmm I might be wrong but I belive that's one of the "features" of XP. You have to disable simple sharing and security (I have no clue how it's realy called) in the options of Explorer to make the tab visible.

*edit*
No, a bit of research told me that's only for sharing. I assume you have XP Home? If so that tab is missing and shows up only if you boot in safe mode. There are ways to make the changes without booting though. One would be to use a different file manager like the one from Windows NT 4 http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/regs_edits/WINFILE.EXE or use an extension that adds the dialog http://www.fajo.de/de/sware/xpfse/index.html
(note: I havn't checked those links so use it at your own risk)

You can also use the commandline prog CACLS assuming it's included in XP home.

*edit2* I have to say it or I'll burst: Don't you love Microsoft?