[DizzyDucRydr]

Greetings.
Installed a drive from a dead PC (MoBo failure.) into an old PC for extra storage. Installed in "cable select" mode as drive 1. This old drive has XP Pro installed, as does the current 0 drive. I was hoping to at least see the files from the old drive, but most of them are invisible. All the OS files are viewable. Under "Documents and Settings," all the user names are listed. None of the User files are viewable when that user name is selected. (Such as, "My Documents.") One user file is "Access Denied," and under Properties, it has zero bytes. When the drive was in the previous PC, I had set the "My Documents" folder for that user, me, to "Private." Would that cause the entire user file to come up "Access Denied."?
I tried change the boot order in the BIOS, but that didn't work. Got a message screen giving options for normal start, safe mode, etc. Tried both, no go. Just timed out and hung there. Went back into BIOS and reset boot order and start up proceeded normally.
I would have swapped the locations of the drives, but the second one from the dead PC is longer and won't fit in the drive 0 location. The cables are not long enough to allow them to be swapped. Should I try setting the jumpers in a Master-Slave configuration? The manual for the old Dell says to use the Cable Select method of installing hard drives. In addition, the hardware setup in the old Dell is different and a driver compatibility/conflict would probably arise.
Though I'd done a backup on that drive not long before failure, there are some new files on it that I'd like to recover. My old Dell XPS T500 is still chugging along after 9.5+ years and with the limited storage 20GB, I wanted to install this 80GB drive for extra storage and at the same time, save the new files.
Interestingly enough, all the program files are present and functional as far as I can tell. Any words of advice would be greatly appreciated.
Respectfully, Terry

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use live cd for copying your old files live cd just like ubuntu live cd.

[baula]

use live cd for copying your old files live cd just like ubuntu live cd.

[DizzyDucRydr]

Hello baula. Thank you for the reply. Is Live CD part of WinXP or Media Player or a stand alone app? My version of MP is 11.0. How can I copy files from my user name on the old HD? When I try to open it, a pop-up window says, "Access Denied." I can look at Properties and the file shows 0 bytes and 0 files and folders. There are some other tabs: one for sharing. I changed the status there to allow sharing, but that doesn't work, either. Once again, "Access Denied." If I click on Security, another window pops up allowing changes to Permissions. Don't know how that works, so I haven't changed anything there. Really at a loss.
I noticed another couple of postings wherein Wannabe1 tells Soggyrice to Taking Ownership of the file. I should give that a try. If that works, thanks very much, Wannabe1. I've printed the Microsoft article that Wannabe1 linked and the instructions look fairly straight forward. Here goes.
Sincerely, Terry

[DizzyDucRydr]

Re: Wannabe1's reply to Soggyrice. Ta-da! Thank you, Wannabe1. It worked like a charm. Now, all those old files are available for viewing and backup. Huh-uh, you are no wannabe, you are the One. Thanks ever so much.
Sincerely, Terry