Strange file behaviour after XP reinstall.

[spriter]

I'm currently in the middle of changing broadband providers so decided to do
a fresh install of XP Home during the downtime. My machine is an XP2200 and
has a 120gb Western Digital primary HDD and a 40gb secondary Western Digital
HDD.

I copied various folders (MP3s, My Documents, etc) to the secondary drive
before formatting the 120gb drive. The 40gb drive was now practically
full...only 3gb remaining. Then I reinstalled XP Home on the primary which
went fine.

When I got back to the desktop and went into Windows Explorer to copy back
the folders odd things started to happen. If I click on the MP3 folder to
try and copy in back, I get an error "unable to access D:\MP3". The same
happens with the other folders I copied over. What is strange is that these
are not the only folders on the drive - infact there is a "Downloads" folder
(which has been there for the duration I've had the drive) where I download
everything to...and everything in there is readable and intact and I can
copy these files to the primary drive without problem.

I've run a scandisk on the secondary drive and it reported no errors. Also
if I check the properties of the drive it's still showing 37gb out of 40gb
used...so it appears the files are there but I just can't see them.

Before I formatted the drive, it had XP Home updated with all service packs
but as I'm changing broadband providers, I have not internet access
currently so it is currently a non-updated XP Home that is on the drive -
could this be why I can't see/copy my files?

Any ideas as to how I can get my files back, or a disk recovery program that
could sort this out?

 

[roger]

Hi spriter,

On Mon, 05 Apr 2004 09:59:15 +0100, spriter

[...]

When I got back to the desktop and went into Windows Explorer to copy back
the folders odd things started to happen. If I click on the MP3 folder to
try and copy in back, I get an error "unable to access D:\MP3". The same
happens with the other folders I copied over. What is strange is that these
are not the only folders on the drive - infact there is a "Downloads" folder
(which has been there for the duration I've had the drive) where I download
everything to...and everything in there is readable and intact and I can
copy these files to the primary drive without problem.

[...]

Try taking ownership of the folder:
HOW TO: Take Ownership of a File or Folder in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;308421

If you have XP Home you need to start in safe mode (F8) to take
ownership.

Good luck

 

[spriter]

Hi spriter,

On Mon, 05 Apr 2004 09:59:15 +0100, spriter

[...]

When I got back to the desktop and went into Windows Explorer to copy back
the folders odd things started to happen. If I click on the MP3 folder to
try and copy in back, I get an error "unable to access D:\MP3". The same
happens with the other folders I copied over. What is strange is that these
are not the only folders on the drive - infact there is a "Downloads" folder
(which has been there for the duration I've had the drive) where I download
everything to...and everything in there is readable and intact and I can
copy these files to the primary drive without problem.

[...]

Try taking ownership of the folder:
HOW TO: Take Ownership of a File or Folder in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;308421

If you have XP Home you need to start in safe mode (F8) to take
ownership.

Good luck

Hey it only worked!

Great tip roger...something I'd never heard of before, but certainly
something I will remember. Thankfully all my files are intact and the drive
is fine.

Thanks again,
spriter

 

[roger]

Hey it only worked!

Great tip roger...something I'd never heard of before, but certainly
something I will remember. Thankfully all my files are intact and the drive
is fine.

Thanks again,
spriter

Glad to hear your system and files are OK
You're very welcome, spriter