How to read disk from crashed PC

[mijewen]

Folks,

My desktop PC had two users, both with passwords, for my daughter and
myself. There was also a shared directory where we stored files that we
shared. It ran Windows XP (Home edition).

The PC crashed. I'm pretty sure the mother board went down (when I switch
on, there's no video at all, not even the CMOS messages). I also think the
OS is damaged on the hard drive. I measured the PSU, and everything seems to
be at the right voltage. I still have the Windows CD, of course, so there is
a chance I could recover the OS if I bought a new mother board., but here is
my quandry - I am faced with renewing my PC, but I think I would rather buy a
laptop this time.

I put the hard disk into a USB disk chassis, and I can read the files from
the shared area with my company laptop, but I can't read the files from my
user area, and I want certain files back. Is there any way I can recover
them without rebuilding a desktop PC? Naturally, I know the password.

 

[Malke]

Folks,

My desktop PC had two users, both with passwords, for my daughter and
myself. There was also a shared directory where we stored files that we
shared. It ran Windows XP (Home edition).

The PC crashed. I'm pretty sure the mother board went down (when I switch
on, there's no video at all, not even the CMOS messages). I also think
the
OS is damaged on the hard drive. I measured the PSU, and everything seems
to
be at the right voltage. I still have the Windows CD, of course, so there
is a chance I could recover the OS if I bought a new mother board., but
here is my quandry - I am faced with renewing my PC, but I think I would
rather buy a laptop this time.

I put the hard disk into a USB disk chassis, and I can read the files from
the shared area with my company laptop, but I can't read the files from my
user area, and I want certain files back. Is there any way I can recover
them without rebuilding a desktop PC? Naturally, I know the password.

What happens when you try? If you get an error message, please quote it
exactly without paraphrasing.

Malke

 

[mijewen]

What happens when you try? If you get an error message, please quote it
exactly without paraphrasing.

Malke

Thanks Malke, I read through the site, but it seems mostly to redirect me
back here, or to usenet.

 

[Malke]

mijewen wrote:

Thanks Malke, I read through the site, but it seems mostly to redirect me
back here, or to usenet.

What site? I have no idea what you are talking about although I suspect you
are referring to the link in my signature, which is not part of my answer to
you. And you still haven't answered my questions.

Again - what happens when you try to access the files in question? Do you get
an error message? If yes, please quote that error message exactly, without
paraphrasing. If something else happens, please describe it.

Malke

 

[John Wunderlich]

Folks,

My desktop PC had two users, both with passwords, for my daughter
and myself. There was also a shared directory where we stored
files that we shared. It ran Windows XP (Home edition).

The PC crashed. I'm pretty sure the mother board went down (when
I switch on, there's no video at all, not even the CMOS messages).
I also think the OS is damaged on the hard drive. I measured the
PSU, and everything seems to be at the right voltage. I still
have the Windows CD, of course, so there is a chance I could
recover the OS if I bought a new mother board., but here is my
quandry - I am faced with renewing my PC, but I think I would
rather buy a laptop this time.

I put the hard disk into a USB disk chassis, and I can read the
files from the shared area with my company laptop, but I can't
read the files from my user area, and I want certain files back.
Is there any way I can recover them without rebuilding a desktop
PC? Naturally, I know the password.

You can try the following article:

"How to take ownership of a file or a folder in Windows XP"
<http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308421>

Or you can boot from a free Live Linux CD such as Knoppix. Linux
completely ignores most Windows File protections except Window's
Encrypted File System (EFS) -- in which case you're doomed.

Knoppix:
<http://knopper.net/knoppix/index-en.html>

HTH,
John

 

[mijewen]

mijewen wrote:




What site? I have no idea what you are talking about although I suspect you
are referring to the link in my signature, which is not part of my answer to
you. And you still haven't answered my questions.

Again - what happens when you try to access the files in question? Do you get
an error message? If yes, please quote that error message exactly, without
paraphrasing. If something else happens, please describe it.

Sorry, Malke, you're right - I followed the link, and didn't notice the
question.

When I display the disk in a USB-connected chassis, I see the directory
Documents and Settigs, with four subdirectgories
- "All Users" contains our shared documents
- "Anybody" contains stuff from before I set up two user areas
- "Default User" is mostly empty
- "Master" is the name I used for my user.
If I click on it (in Windows Explorer), it gives an error message
"F: Documents and Settings\Master is not accessible
Access is denied"

 

[mijewen]

You can try the following article:

"How to take ownership of a file or a folder in Windows XP"
<http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308421>

Or you can boot from a free Live Linux CD such as Knoppix. Linux
completely ignores most Windows File protections except Window's
Encrypted File System (EFS) -- in which case you're doomed.

Thanks a million for this, John, I'll download knoppix and see if it saves
my bacon!

 

[Malke]

Sorry, Malke, you're right - I followed the link, and didn't notice the
question.

When I display the disk in a USB-connected chassis, I see the directory
Documents and Settigs, with four subdirectgories
- "All Users" contains our shared documents
- "Anybody" contains stuff from before I set up two user areas
- "Default User" is mostly empty
- "Master" is the name I used for my user.
If I click on it (in Windows Explorer), it gives an error message
"F: Documents and Settings\Master is not accessible
Access is denied"

OK, Mr. Wunderlich has given you good advice. I would first try to take
ownership of the files since there is no point in going through all the work
of downloading Knoppix, etc. if taking ownership works. If it doesn't, then
certainly boot into Knoppix and copy the files to a USB stick or burn to CD-
R. The Default User is only used as a template when you create new user
accounts so there will not be any data in there.

Here is one more link relating to taking ownership which you may need:

How Do I Get the Security tab in Folder Properties? -
http://www.dougknox.com/xp/tips/xp_security_tab.htm

Malke

 

[MN]

Thanks a million for this, John, I'll download knoppix and see if it saves
my bacon!

Try step 1 FIRST.

"How to take ownership of a file or a folder in Windows XP"
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308421

 

[mijewen]

Folks,

My desktop PC had two users, both with passwords, for my daughter and
myself. There was also a shared directory where we stored files that we
shared. It ran Windows XP (Home edition).

The PC crashed. I'm pretty sure the mother board went down (when I switch
on, there's no video at all, not even the CMOS messages). I also think the
OS is damaged on the hard drive. I measured the PSU, and everything seems to
be at the right voltage. I still have the Windows CD, of course, so there is
a chance I could recover the OS if I bought a new mother board., but here is
my quandry - I am faced with renewing my PC, but I think I would rather buy a
laptop this time.

I put the hard disk into a USB disk chassis, and I can read the files from
the shared area with my company laptop, but I can't read the files from my
user area, and I want certain files back. Is there any way I can recover
them without rebuilding a desktop PC? Naturally, I know the password.

Message to Malke and John -
Thanks very much to both of you. I bought a copy of Knoppix, and after
spending a while figuring out how to drive it, was able to copy my entire
user area to available space on the same disk. It took a long time, both
reading and writing 80GB through the USB cable, but it worked.

Many thanks,

MikeC.

 

[John Wunderlich]

Message to Malke and John -
Thanks very much to both of you. I bought a copy of Knoppix, and
after spending a while figuring out how to drive it, was able to
copy my entire user area to available space on the same disk. It
took a long time, both reading and writing 80GB through the USB
cable, but it worked.

Many thanks,

MikeC.

I'm glad you recovered your files.
Thanks for the feedback.
Now you can add "Linux Expert" to your resume

-- john