Unable to access files on hard drive

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Guest

I had an 80gig hard drive installed on a Dell Optiplex computer with ALL my
stuff on it. It had been formatted and set up with Windows XP from the Dell
OS disk. I had to take it off that system (I won't go into the reasons why.)
Needless to say, I knew I wouldn't be able to use it as a master on another
system (because for some reason, using the Dell disk does that.) But I
thought I could access my files setting it up as a slave. I was wrong! I
guess because I had made My Documents folder private it won't allow me access
at all now. To make matters worse, now it says the hard drive isn't formatted
and won't even let me look at the folders I can't access. Help! How can I
save my documents?? FYI: My current system has XP Pro.
 
If XP is telling you the disk isn't formatted, you may have serious trouble.

If you can access the folders, you need to log in as administrator and take
ownership of the files.
 
iddle1 said:
I had an 80gig hard drive installed on a Dell Optiplex computer with
ALL my stuff on it. It had been formatted and set up with Windows XP
from the Dell OS disk. I had to take it off that system (I won't go
into the reasons why.) Needless to say, I knew I wouldn't be able to
use it as a master on another system (because for some reason, using
the Dell disk does that.) But I thought I could access my files
setting it up as a slave. I was wrong! I guess because I had made My
Documents folder private it won't allow me access at all now. To make
matters worse, now it says the hard drive isn't formatted and won't
even let me look at the folders I can't access. Help! How can I
save my documents?? FYI: My current system has XP Pro.
Click to expand...

You've got the drive slaved in a system, right? I'd boot with Knoppix
and see what is there. There is a good chance you'll be able to get all
your stuff. Here's some info on using Knoppix:

An easy way to retrieve Windows files is to boot with Knoppix, a Linux
distro on a live cd. You will need a computer with two cd drives, one
of which is a cd/dvd-rw OR a usb thumb drive with enough capacity to
hold your data. To get Knoppix, you need a computer with a fast
Internet connection and third-party burning software. Download the
Knoppix .iso from www.knoppix.net and create your bootable cd. Then
boot with it and it will be able to see the Windows files. If you are
using the usb thumb drive, right-click on its icon (on the Desktop) to
get its properties and uncheck the box that says "Read Only". Then
click on it to open it. Note that the default mouse action in the
window manager used by Knoppix (KDE) is a single click to open instead
of the traditional MS Windows' double-click. Otherwise, use the K3b
burning program to burn the files to cd/dvd-r's.

If Knoppix doesn't see the data, your partition may have become messed
up. At that point - depending on your skill level - you may run data
recovery software and/or a partition repair program. The data recovery
software I use is Ontrack's Easy Recovery Pro, but it is expensive. You
might try Googling for free data recovery software. If all else fails,
there are always professional data recovery firms. I like DriveSavers,
but there are others. Services from one of these companies are not
cheap, but only you can determine the value of your data. Here are some
links:

DriveSavers - http://www.drivesavers.com
Seagate Data Recovery Services -
http://www.seagate.com/support/service/drs/services.html

When you get all done, design and implement a good backup strategy for
the future.

Good luck,

Malke
 
Malke!
You give great advice. You're my new hero!!
Thanks so much for your time and sharing your knowledge.
Still--
iddleone
 
iddle1 said:
Malke!
You give great advice. You're my new hero!!
Thanks so much for your time and sharing your knowledge.
Still--
iddleone
Click to expand...

Thank you for the kind words. I hope you get your issue resolved.

Good luck,

Malke
 
Hello,

EASEUS DataRecoveryWizard utility can help. Speaking about me, it was
easily able to restore deleted, lost file and unformat drive,
so I think you will also find it quite useful. Really recommended
tool, give it a try.

http://www.easeus.com/
 

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