Access HDD when connected to another PC?

[Calab]

I've got a friends laptop to repair. I've determined that at least the boot
files are damaged. I've connected the hard drive to my own PC in an attempt
to recover the files from the drive. Unfortunately, my PC says that access
is denied when I try to browse the drive.

In the disk manager I can see the drive. I've gone onto the drive and
updated the permissions on all the files to allow full access for
administrators and users, yet I still cannot access the drive.

I know that the content of the drive is still there because I COULD see the
filenames zipping on the screen while the system was updating permissions.
(That shouldn't work if I don't have permission, should it?)

If I boot from an installation CD and try to access the drive from a
recovery console it asks for the password for that Windows installation. I
enter the only password that is on the laptop, but it does not work. There
is only one user on the laptop, so that SHOULD be the password.

Any idea how I can get onto the drive to recover the content?

Thanks!

 

[FromTheRafters]

I've got a friends laptop to repair. I've determined that at least the
boot files are damaged. I've connected the hard drive to my own PC in
an attempt to recover the files from the drive. Unfortunately, my PC
says that access is denied when I try to browse the drive.

Take ownership of the drive.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I've got a friends laptop to repair. I've determined that at least the boot
files are damaged. I've connected the hard drive to my own PC in an attempt
to recover the files from the drive. Unfortunately, my PC says that access
is denied when I try to browse the drive.

Read here: "Take ownership" at
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;308421

 

[Malke]

I've got a friends laptop to repair. I've determined that at least the
boot files are damaged. I've connected the hard drive to my own PC in an
attempt to recover the files from the drive. Unfortunately, my PC says
that access is denied when I try to browse the drive.

(snip)

It would have been better to stay in your original thread. This has nothing
to do with security either.

Take ownership as Ken suggested or do as I suggested in your other thread -
boot the machine with a Linux Live CD such as Knoppix. Linux will not honor
Windows' permissions and you will be able to copy the data to an external
hard drive.

Malke