Got a HDD problem I need a little help with please.

[Darrin]

Tina's computer has crapped out on her (again). It won't fire up all the way. I took the HDD out to see if it that was the problem and I do believe I've found the culprit.

It's WinXP Home and both my wife and son have separate accesses (accounts) on the computer. Now, my son's has a password on it, but I can get in and see and change his files. Wife's account does not have a password, but any time I try to get to her files to back them up it says "Access Denied". This is both in Windows Explorer and in DOS.

I'm going to try restarting in Safe Mode and try getting into it that way, but I'm not too hopeful. She's got a couple files on her desktop that I need to retreive before I wipe the HDD and redo her computer entirely (new mobo, vid, CPU, case, power supply). The only thing that's remaining the same is her CDROM, HDD, monitor, keyboard and mouse.

Any ideas before I lose it completely and she gets all bent out of shape at losing her files?

[Admiral Huddy]

Are they set up as limited accounts? The fact that one account (without password proection) tries to access another (with) sounds right it should have access rights. That said, basic windows security is a bit iffy.

Try switching to advanced security and give all rights to all users.

[Mark]

She's probably got the directory set to not allow other people to access it (fair enough really).

Using the Admin account from Safe Mode should get you the access you need.

[Darrin]

Sorry, forgot to say I've got her HDD in my computer as a slave.

[Mark]

There's still a fair chance it'll work. Assuming that disk isn't going back in you should at least be able to reset the permissions, but Microsoft disable all that stuff if you're not in safe mode (although there are registry hacks to 'fix' that).

[Darrin]

Yeah, tried it in Safe Mode. Still couldn't access it. I think something screwed the data up in that sector of the HDD. I seem to remember now that it tried to run Scandisk or CHKDSK by itself at one point.

[Darrin]

I also tried running defrag on it (as a slave drive in my comp) and it had a big chunk of unmoveable files. Normally that only happens with system files that are in use, right? Shouldn't be any on a slave drive should there?

[LeperousDust]

I'm skim read over what problems your having, sounds like ownership issues? Read up on taking ownership of files from the slave drive with XP that should recover everything you need...

[Mark]

Sorry to say this, but on a failing disk, defrag is one of the worst things to use. It'll most likely just make the problem worse.

OK, to try and fix this, do the following:

• Reboot into safe mode.
• Log in using the Administrator account.
• Browse to the '\Documents and Settings' directory.
• Right-click on the user's directory causing the problem. Select properties.
• Select the 'Security' tab (hopefully it'll be there).
• Click 'Advanced'.
• Look in the list for 'Everyone'. If not there, click Add and type 'Everyone' into the box, click OK. If there, select and then click 'Edit'.
• You should now see a list of permissions, find the entry for 'Full Control' under the 'Allow' column, and check it.
• In the 'Apply Onto' option, select 'This folder, subfolders and files'.
• Click OK on each of the three dialogs to get back out of the properties.

Hopefully, you should now have access to any files that can still be accessed.