Widescreen Gaming Forum

Getting information of a windows XP drive in a different computer means over coming user/group permissions. Here's how I found it out recently.

Question: So I have a laptop hard drive with data I'm trying to salvage for someone. I hooked it up to my machine (using a 2.5" - 3.5" HDD adapter) as a secondary master. So far so good. I can view the files on it, and I can copy most of them. The problem is, trying to copy certain folders gives me the "check to make sure the disk is not full or write-protected and that the file is not currently in use" error - specifically some of the Windows subfolders and her subfolder in "Documents and Settings," the one with all the stuff she wants to salvage. I think the reason for this may be that she has a windows (XP) password, and it locks up those folders if I'm not logged in as her. I tried booting her drive as a primary so I could log in as her but it failed all kinds of ways.

Is there a way to get around the locking up of those folders due to her windows log-in? Is there a way to find out exactly why I'm getting that error in case there's a different reason?

Answer: This can be solved by claiming ownership of the drive. Navigate to the drive in My Computer and go to Properties.

Go to the Security tab and click the Advanced Button. Click the Owner tab. Choose your current log-in from the list that is titled "Change owner to" and click OK. It should now go through the drive's contents and set your profile as the owner. You should now have complete access to the drive. You might have to add yourself to the user section as well, although most times not.

For those of you playing at home with XP Home, you won't see the security tab, click the link below and install, then you'll have access to the security tab.

http://www.whitsoftdev.com/rshx/

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I still visit occasionally.

Also for some people who want to recover data from dead drives (click, click, click). You can try the freezer trick, which goes like so:

[list]Put drive in vacuum sealed ziploc bag
Put drive in freezer
Wait three hours
Wire drive to computer with something like this
Put the drive back in the freezer
Transfer most important data first
???????????
Profit[/list:u]

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EVGA GeForce GTX 970 SC ACX 2.0 3.5GB | 3 X LG Flatron 24EA53VQ in Nvidia Surround | Optoma HD20

thanks maherie. I just toss in a ubuntu disk and get everything that way...;)