Hardware Issues

[Lord Zardoz]

I am posting this from my laptop. I am doing this because my primary computer decided to become non functional. This has been the case for a few days.

The broken computer option is being solved by the expedient of obtaining a new computer. I also purchased an external hard drive enclosure in an effort to salvage the data on my hard drive.

Good news: My original hard drive is intact and readable. I was able to connect the external drive enclosure to my laptop, and read / copy data off the drove.

Bad news: The data I most wanted to salvage is under the 'My Documents' folder. Due to the way windows does local file accounts, everything under that drive is protected. This means if you have a guest account on the computer, the guest cannot snoop through your private . Apparantly, it also means that if you put the drive into an external enclosure and try to read it on another windows machine, the folder is unreadable.

So, I need a way to change the access permissions on a folder on a drive in an external drive enclosure. I have no idea how to do this. I am a computer programmer, so I generally know what I am doing with computers. But writing C++ code and defeating windows file access settings are entirely different skill sets.

If anyone can point me in the right direction, it would be appreciated. Thanks.

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[SteelDraco]

See if you can mount the drive as the new computer's bootable drive. That would require a bit of time while it finds new hardware and such when you first boot, since Windows will find different settings than what it previously had. In the end, however, you should be able to get the system started again with the old OS. You might need the Windows discs around for different drivers and such, though.

Was this the only drive you had in there? And what version of Windows is on it?

 

[Rodrigo Istalindir]

I'm doing this from memory, so I might be a little off.

Right click on the My Documents folder, select properties, then the Security tab. Click 'Add' to add someone to the permissions list, and add your local user. It should show up in the list as "new_computer_name\username". Give that user full permissions to the folder. Copy away.

You might also try doing 'Advanced->Edit' from the Security screen and selecting the option to replace all settings. That should force it to squirrel through all the subfolders and update them as well.

You may also need to add that same user at the hard drive level. Same general principal, you just right-click on the hard-drive icon in My Computer instead of a folder.

 

[Lord Zardoz]

The drive that I am attempting to salvage data from was the primary drive of my PC, and ran XP Pro.

The machine I am on now is a Laptop running XP Home.

I found instructions identical to those you suggested, telling me to use an Admin account and change the owner of the drive. I suspect the 'Security Tab' option is only available to machines running XP Pro. That option is not showing up for me on my laptop on any folders.

Same for the 'Security Screen'. Either I am not seeing it, or I am just not figuring out what you are talking about due to lack of specific context.

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[Mycanid]

Hmm ... shouldn't this be over in the software and computers section? Maybe more replies if there?

Mods??? Whaddaya think? :\

 

[Rodrigo Istalindir]

I found instructions identical to those you suggested, telling me to use an Admin account and change the owner of the drive. I suspect the 'Security Tab' option is only available to machines running XP Pro. That option is not showing up for me on my laptop on any folders.

Same for the 'Security Screen'. Either I am not seeing it, or I am just not figuring out what you are talking about due to lack of specific context.

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Nah, it's there, they just hide some of that stuff from Home. Home and Pro are 99.99% identical; there's just a couple hacks in there to keep people from using Home in a network environment.

With Home, you have to turn of 'Simple File Sharing', which you have to do from Safe mode. There is also a utility from Microsoft that you can use if you have to do it often and don't want to reboot into safe mode. It's a little complicated, though.

To get to safe mode, hit F8 before the Windows XP logo appears after a reboot.

Simple File Sharing is a checkbox under Control-Panel, Folder Options, View.

Then you should be able to see the Security tab, modify the permissions for the drive/folders, and never have to mess with it again.

 

[Lord Zardoz]

Problem resolved

I finally managed to get my laptop to boot into safe mode, and from there, was able to change the access settings on the protected folder I wanted access to. From there, I managed to copy much of the files to my laptop.

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[Mycanid]

I finally managed to get my laptop to boot into safe mode, and from there, was able to change the access settings on the protected folder I wanted access to. From there, I managed to copy much of the files to my laptop.

END COMMUNICATION

Hoorah!

 

[megamania]

I fear the day my computer crashes. Hundreds of hours of work....no..... 1000's of hours will be lost. I need to start backing stuff up but never find the time. Its time to find the time....

 

[Barendd Nobeard]

I fear the day my computer crashes. Hundreds of hours of work....no..... 1000's of hours will be lost. I need to start backing stuff up but never find the time. Its time to find the time....

If you don't find the time to back it up now, how on Oerth will you find time to re-do 1000's of hours of work?

Spend a few hours now to avoid heartache later.

With USB ports and an external drive of some sort, you should be able to back up with a few clicks--let it run while you go to sleep.