My Documents on ld Hard Drive

[jagan13]

Here is the deal- My HP laptop crashed a few months ago. So, I did some research and bought a harddrive enclosure recently and currently trying to use it to extract my personal files(music, pictures,videos and "My Documents") from the hard drive connected to a Thinkpad. I was able to access and copy everything but not able to access either Documents and Settings folder or the My Documents folder. Yes, I have tried changing the ownership of folders to the Thinkpad user that I am logged on as and yes, it is has Admin privileges on the new laptop. THe following are some specifics:
HP Laptop - Windows VIsta
Thinkpad - XP Professional
Currently unable to see the Security tab under properties of either directories. So, I have granted full ownership to the directory, E:\Users\Jagan and Jagan is the owner of the My Documents I am trying to access. I have done some online search adn mostly found that, changing the ownership ideally solved the problem for most people. The user Jagan on my HP laptop had password enabled login. SO, I am not sure if it is as XP - Vista issue or password authentication issue or if I am not looking at the right place. I would appreciate some assistance or pointers or anything, that might help me access to my files under the My Documents folder.

Also, I did notice that the folders are hidden under properties and the hidden checkbox is greyed out . I believe I have covered almost everything I noticed. Any help will be appreciated.

Thanks,
Jagan

 

[DXRick]

Is it encrypted?

 

[WyomingKnott]

I don't see how this would make a difference, but I have dealt with similar situations with protection rather than ownership. Properties - Security - Add - Add full control options for my current user, then go to Advanced and select Replace permission entries on all child objects with entries shown here that apply to child objects. When it objects that this breaks current inheritance, tell it that that is fine.

Good luck.

 

[Snipergod87]

Right click on the folder and click properties then security. Down at the bottom click the advanced tab, click on owner then edit, and select your username and check the box that says replace owner on subcontainers and objects. click ok and close out of that window.
While still in the advanced security setting window, click on the permissions tab and click your username. click edit and make sure you have full control, close out of that and when you have your username selected check on the box replace all child object permissions.... and uncheck include inheritable permissions.

If that doesnt work it may be that the folder is encrypted (if using Vista) which makes it difficult to recover the data.