can't access my old hard drive files... :(

clueless801 · 11-22-2008, 02:24 PM

Hi guys. My first post is a needy one.

My desktop was giving me problems awhile ago so I stopped using it and started using my laptop full time.

Recently I decided that I would like to get the info off the old hard drive as it has old pics,video,movies,etc, that I would like to recover.

I went to the local computer shop and bought a ide>usb connection and power supply kit for my maxtor 40g ata.100 hardrive.

Got home plugged it in and anticipated getting all my files back when the laptop reported "new device found" etc.etc..

Start>My computer>Local Disk (F)... files such as "documents and settings", "temp", "WINDOWS", "My Downloads" are all there. when I open them to find my files I get only windows files, some program files... all crap really and nothing that I want to recover. I can't find any of my old personal files. Where are they? I know they are there. When I right click the drive>Properties, I get the drive being almost full, the same way I remember it being.

I am a novice at this computer stuff but I have tried several things, such as... searching for known file names (or partials), Booting from the maxtor hardrive (restarts everytime with error message)

The laptop Im using is a ibm t30 p4 using xp pro.

HELP please.

**grimx133** · 11-22-2008, 07:04 PM

That you can access the drive at all is good. Your personal files should be in C:\documents and settings\username. There should be multiple folders in documents and settings, one for each user plus and administrator and an all users folder. Try opening the folder for your old username. If it shows as empty with a mouse hover and gives a permission message when trying to open it, then you need to take ownership of that folder and it's subfolders. There's an MS kb article on how to do that. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308421

clueless801 · 11-23-2008, 11:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by grimx133

That you can access the drive at all is good. Your personal files should be in C:\documents and settings\username. There should be multiple folders in documents and settings, one for each user plus and administrator and an all users folder. Try opening the folder for your old username. If it shows as empty with a mouse hover and gives a permission message when trying to open it, then you need to take ownership of that folder and it's subfolders. There's an MS kb article on how to do that. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308421

It worked!!! your a genius grimx133. Thanks a lot.

**grimx133** · 11-23-2008, 04:50 PM

You're very welcome.

11-22-2008, 02:24 PM	#1 (permalink)
clueless801 Registered User Join Date: Nov 2008 Posts: 3 OS: xp	can't access my old hard drive files... :( Hi guys. My first post is a needy one. My desktop was giving me problems awhile ago so I stopped using it and started using my laptop full time. Recently I decided that I would like to get the info off the old hard drive as it has old pics,video,movies,etc, that I would like to recover. I went to the local computer shop and bought a ide>usb connection and power supply kit for my maxtor 40g ata.100 hardrive. Got home plugged it in and anticipated getting all my files back when the laptop reported "new device found" etc.etc.. Start>My computer>Local Disk (F)... files such as "documents and settings", "temp", "WINDOWS", "My Downloads" are all there. when I open them to find my files I get only windows files, some program files... all crap really and nothing that I want to recover. I can't find any of my old personal files. Where are they? I know they are there. When I right click the drive>Properties, I get the drive being almost full, the same way I remember it being. I am a novice at this computer stuff but I have tried several things, such as... searching for known file names (or partials), Booting from the maxtor hardrive (restarts everytime with error message) The laptop Im using is a ibm t30 p4 using xp pro. HELP please.

11-22-2008, 07:04 PM	#2 (permalink)
grimx133 Mentor Hardware Team Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Canada eh Posts: 3,046 OS: xp mce sp2, xp pro sp2, windows 7 beta My System	Re: can't access my old hard drive files... :( That you can access the drive at all is good. Your personal files should be in C:\documents and settings\username. There should be multiple folders in documents and settings, one for each user plus and administrator and an all users folder. Try opening the folder for your old username. If it shows as empty with a mouse hover and gives a permission message when trying to open it, then you need to take ownership of that folder and it's subfolders. There's an MS kb article on how to do that. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308421 __________________

11-23-2008, 04:50 PM	#4 (permalink)
grimx133 Mentor Hardware Team Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Canada eh Posts: 3,046 OS: xp mce sp2, xp pro sp2, windows 7 beta My System	Re: can't access my old hard drive files... :( You're very welcome. __________________