Error in copying files from old HDD My Documents folder?

[Pheasant Plucker]

Hi there,

I wonder if some kind soul could help me please?

My girlfriend has just got a new PC and we wanted to copy over all of her
files/documents/data from the 2 HDD's on the old PC on to the new one.

As there is a lot of data rather than burn to DVD and then copy that way I
thought I would connect each old HDD one at a time into the new PC and just
use Explorer to copy the relevant data.

The original HDD is named XP Home and came with the old PC originally and
some time later I added a larger HDD and installed XP Pro and set up for
dual boot which worked very well.

Now I have installed the XP Home drive into the new PC to become the D:
drive and copied across the Documents and Settings/Main User in its entirety
with no problems.

I then removed the XP Home drive and connected the XP Pro drive and booted
with no problems.

I opened Explorer and looked at XP Pro which was also now the D: drive.

I opened up Documents and Settings but was unable to open Main User as
access was denied.

Why should this happen?

I managed to setup the Main User folder as shared and now I can see all the
other folders in it but am unable to copy anything because of this error
access denied business.

I cannot set these other folders to shared as access is denied.

Is there an easy way round this problem as all I want to do is ensure she
has all of her documents/settings etc transferred to her new PC.

Thanks & regards,
-=pp=-

 

[Pat Coghlan]

Your description is somewhat confusing re: which is the permanent
C-drive etc., but if you turn off simple file sharing (Tools-Folder
Options-View in Windows Explorer) and check Properties-Security-Advanced
on \Main User\, you can see who the owner is (user account name) and
what permissions it has.

When I move files to a new computer (or one on which I've re-installed
Windows), I temporarily make the user account an admin account and use
that account to copy over all files so that it is the owner. If you
copied the files with some other account it will be the owner and she
might not be able to access them due to file permissions.

 

[Nepatsfan]

(e-mail address removed),

Hi there,

I wonder if some kind soul could help me please?

My girlfriend has just got a new PC and we wanted to copy
over all of her files/documents/data from the 2 HDD's on the
old PC on to the new one.
As there is a lot of data rather than burn to DVD and then
copy that way I thought I would connect each old HDD one at
a time into the new PC and just use Explorer to copy the
relevant data.
The original HDD is named XP Home and came with the old PC
originally and some time later I added a larger HDD and
installed XP Pro and set up for dual boot which worked very
well.
Now I have installed the XP Home drive into the new PC to
become the D: drive and copied across the Documents and
Settings/Main User in its entirety with no problems.

I then removed the XP Home drive and connected the XP Pro
drive and booted with no problems.

I opened Explorer and looked at XP Pro which was also now
the D: drive.
I opened up Documents and Settings but was unable to open
Main User as access was denied.

Why should this happen?

I managed to setup the Main User folder as shared and now I
can see all the other folders in it but am unable to copy
anything because of this error access denied business.

I cannot set these other folders to shared as access is
denied.
Is there an easy way round this problem as all I want to do
is ensure she has all of her documents/settings etc
transferred to her new PC.
Thanks & regards,
-=pp=-

You need to take ownership of the files. Take a look here for
the procedure:

How to take ownership of a file or folder in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;308421

Good luck

Nepatsfan

 

[Pheasant Plucker]

Thanks for the reply Pat,

Sorry if my explanation was confusing - I tried to spell it out...

The permanent C: drive is the single HDD in the new computer - it always
stays the C: drive even when either of the two old HDD's are connected one
at a time and they each temporarily become the D: drive.

I am guessing that you are referring to XP Pro when you mention Simple File
Sharing as I do not see the option in Tools/Folder Options/View.

In both cases on the old and new machines hers was the only account and that
by default should have given her Administrator status...

I did also boot the new PC into its XP Home Safe Mode as Administrator but
to no avail.

My best guess is it still has to do with Access rights, Permissions etc.so I
will keep looking.

Thanks & kind regards,
-=pp=-

 

[Pheasant Plucker]

Thanks for the reply Nepatsfan,

Spot on!

Before I read the article I knew I was getting 'warmer' but the final answer
still eluded me.

The article has allowed me to at least open the folders and I am now in the
process of copying over 13GB of files...

Lets hope it doesn't fall at the last hurdle...Windows is extremely
frustrating like that - if it encounters an error it aborts the remainder of
the file copy instead of giving you the option of ignoring that particular
file and getting on with the job.

You would think after all this time Microsoft would have overcome that one -
I think even my old Amiga didn't have that (or many other limitations!

;^)

Kind regards,
-=pp=-

 

[Nepatsfan]

If you run into a problem copying the files you might want to
open a command prompt window and use the xcopy command.

Go to Start -> Run and enter cmd.exe in the Open box.
Enter xcopy /? in the command prompt window.
I think you'll find that using the /c switch will skip over any
files that can't be copied.

Nepatsfan

%[email protected],

 

[Pheasant Plucker®]

Hello again Nepatsfan,

Would the XCopy command work even without the folder permissions set
correctly?

I mean when I first tried to copy the files and I got the error would XCopy
have worked instead of using Explorer?

Just curious...its been a long, long time since I used XCopy back in my DOS
days...

Thanks & regards,
-=pp=-

 

[Nepatsfan]

No. You would still have had to take ownership of the files.

Nepatsfan

[email protected],