New old hardrive

Have you tried going to the device manager and making sure it has been initialized (type compmgmt.msc at a run prompt)

If not, does it show up in the BIOS?

Slow down, do NOT use Disk Management to Initialize the old drive unless you want to DELETE ALL its old contents. I suspect (you don't say) you have old files on it you want to use.

Explain a little further "now i cant really access anything". Does your machine boot up into Windows? When you go to My Computer what drives exist there? Can you use your original C: drive (and any others you had)? Is your problem only an inability to use the old drive, or can you not see any files anywhere? Does the machine give you any error messages as you try to use the drives?

Yeah everything boots up just fine. I can see the files and i even made it so i can open them, but a lot of the files wont show the information. For instance, when i try to view my pictures, it says that the photoviewer cant open it because i don't have the permission. A lot of the files are like this.

What is your new OS? Is it Vista or Windows 7?

It sounds like less of a hardware issue and more of a permissions issue.

Yes, this is an issue of who has access to drives, folders and files, and it seems to appear often when OS upgrades involve moving a hard drive with old files. I have not dealt with this myself, but I know it's a Windows issue many have fixed. Someone else can offer specific help, I'm sure.

i have windows 7. This is definitely a permissions issue. most files i can access, but anything that was supposed to be protected i cant get to.

well actually i can see the files but i cant open any of them. i need the right permissions for it. how can i obtain this?

I think you would have to have admin rights to those files and give yourself permission. If you go to the file, right click, go to properties, and then go to the Security tab, what does it show?

You may have to look at the entries on there to figure it out which group you fit into to see which permissions you have.

How do i get full permission over this hardrive from my new computer? Ive gone to the properties and obtained some authority over certain files, but i cant view them. For instance, when I try to view my pictures I can see the icon but i cant view the picture.