accessing files on portable HDD

teleaddict

I have just removed the HDD from my old laptop and installed it into a caddy. When I try to access my documents on the now portable HDD it states access denied.
Whilst this drive was in the laptop I was using administrator rights and possibly password protection on boot up.
I can access the folders for other family members but not mine.
How can I get to my old documents?

fwor

What you need to do depends a bit on which OS you have.

Here's an example of what to do in Windows XP:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308421

For other OS's, just put "taking ownership of files" plus your OS name into your favourite search engine and take your pick from the resulting articles.

imaginarynumber

Put it back into the laptop and remove the restrictions

To UnSet the My Documents Folder to Private

On the Start menu, right-click My Documents, and then click Properties. Click the Sharing tab, and then unclick to select the Make this folder private so that only I have access to it check box. Click Apply, and then click OK .

Note: You cannot make your folders private if your drive is not formatted as NTFS.
Home Edition: Set Permissions for Shared Files and Folders. Boot into safe mode and logon to the 'Administrator' account. Right click the folder in question/Sharing and Security/Make Folder Private.
To view the Security tab for a file or folder in XP, hold down the Ctrl key while right-clicking the file or folder, and select Properties.

Shamlessly lifted from

http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/win_xp_mydocs.htm

teleaddict

putting the HDD back into the laptop isn't an option, as its died (hence why I've had to take it out). I'll have a go at fwor's sugestion when I get back on my computer.

imaginarynumber

teleaddict wrote: »

putting the HDD back into the laptop isn't an option, as its died (hence why I've had to take it out). I'll have a go at fwor's sugestion when I get back on my computer.

Ok, fair enough.

Btw my post will help you to prevent this being an issue again- the downside is that other family members will be able to see your docs through explorer.

NiVZ

Hello,

This problem is caused by the ownership rights associated with the NTFS file system.

Following the post to 'take ownership' of the files will fix it.

NiVZ

teleaddict

All sorted now thanks. I followed fwor's suggestion and it worked a treat. Thanks for the responses folks. :beer: