[wingsdiva]

I apologize if this is posted in the wrong place, but this seemed the most logical to me. But what do I know, I'm a woman!

A friend got a virus that wasn't cleanable - trust me, I spent days. She has an Asus notebook that I have removed the hard drive from to back up her data that hasn't been backed up in a year. I have it connected to my laptop to transfer the info. The problem is I don't have permission to access the hard drive to transfer the data. I know her password, but there's no way to enter it. Does anyone know how I can enter this password so I can put this thing back together and do a system restore?
Thanks!

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You can add a Take Ownership selection to your right click Context menu then you right click on a file, folder or drive and select Take Ownership. Once you do that you should be able to backup anything you want. I'm don't know if this will cause a problem when you put the drive back in her computer or not. Might want to wait a bit and see if anyone else has a suggestion.

Add "Take Ownership" to Context Menu of Files, Folders, and Drives

An alternative would be to use a live Linux CD like Puppy to backup the data with the drive installed in her computer.

Download the bootable Puppy Linux iso image. Get the latest version available, currently slacko-5.3.1-SCSI-MAIN.iso . If you don't have a burning program that will burn .iso files get burncdcc, a small FAST no frills iso burning program or ImgBurn, another small, fast and simple burner.

NOTE...do not put a blank cd in until burncdcc opens the tray for you.

1. Start BurnCDCC
2. Browse to the .iso file you want to burn on cd/dvd ......in this case its puppy linux
3. Select the .iso file
4. Suggestion.... Check the option "Fix close"
5. Click on "Start"

Make sure in the BIOS Setup, the CD/DVD drive is the first boot device. Put the Puppy Linux CD in the drive, then reboot your computer. Puppy will boot and run totally in ram. After you get it running and you're at the Puppy Desktop, take the CD out and then you can use the burner software to save all your data to CD/DVD. You can also use it to backup your data to a external USB harddrive or Flash drive, just have it hooked to the computer when you boot up with Puppy.

==========================

Quick guide for saving data from Puppy Linux:

After you get to puppy desktop, click on the drives icon. It looks like a flash drive, top row. It will list all the drives connected your computer.

Click on the Red icon for the drive you want to mount, perhaps a flash drive. Puppy will mount the drive. The drive icon turns green when its mounted.

Minimize the drives mounter window. You will need it again in a few minutes. Drag the right edge of it sideways to shrink it to its narrowest size, then drag the window to the right edge of the screen.

Now click on the icon that looks like a filing cabinet (kind of yellow) on the main drive. It should already be green. You will see a list of all the folders on the main drive (Usually C:). Shrink that window to the narrowest you can. Drag that window to the left side of the screen. At this point you should have 2 windows open on your desktop, Flash drive on the right and C: on the left. Go back to the folders on the C: drive. Click on the Documents and Settings folder, then your user name or all users. Find the folders that has your data then drag and drop the folder with the data you want to make copies of to the flash drive window.

Your options are to move, copy, ect. Select COPY. If its to big you will have to open the folder and drag and drop individual files until the flash drive is full.

Click on the drives mounter you minimized earlier. Unmount the Flash drive by clicking on the green icon. You will once in awhile get error messages when unmounting the drive, ignore them. When the flash drive icon turns red again its safe to remove the flash drive.

Plug the Flash drive into the other computer then copy all the data files ( I drag and drop) to the other computer. Make sure the other computer can read them.

Now delete the data on the flash drive, then take it back to the other computer and repeat until all data is copied.

Above taken from here: Help with Windows XP (Won't Start) on GeeksToGo.

[Ztruker]

You can add a Take Ownership selection to your right click Context menu then you right click on a file, folder or drive and select Take Ownership. Once you do that you should be able to backup anything you want. I'm don't know if this will cause a problem when you put the drive back in her computer or not. Might want to wait a bit and see if anyone else has a suggestion.

Add "Take Ownership" to Context Menu of Files, Folders, and Drives

An alternative would be to use a live Linux CD like Puppy to backup the data with the drive installed in her computer.

Download the bootable Puppy Linux iso image. Get the latest version available, currently slacko-5.3.1-SCSI-MAIN.iso . If you don't have a burning program that will burn .iso files get burncdcc, a small FAST no frills iso burning program or ImgBurn, another small, fast and simple burner.

NOTE...do not put a blank cd in until burncdcc opens the tray for you.

1. Start BurnCDCC
2. Browse to the .iso file you want to burn on cd/dvd ......in this case its puppy linux
3. Select the .iso file
4. Suggestion.... Check the option "Fix close"
5. Click on "Start"

Make sure in the BIOS Setup, the CD/DVD drive is the first boot device. Put the Puppy Linux CD in the drive, then reboot your computer. Puppy will boot and run totally in ram. After you get it running and you're at the Puppy Desktop, take the CD out and then you can use the burner software to save all your data to CD/DVD. You can also use it to backup your data to a external USB harddrive or Flash drive, just have it hooked to the computer when you boot up with Puppy.

==========================

Quick guide for saving data from Puppy Linux:

After you get to puppy desktop, click on the drives icon. It looks like a flash drive, top row. It will list all the drives connected your computer.

Click on the Red icon for the drive you want to mount, perhaps a flash drive. Puppy will mount the drive. The drive icon turns green when its mounted.

Minimize the drives mounter window. You will need it again in a few minutes. Drag the right edge of it sideways to shrink it to its narrowest size, then drag the window to the right edge of the screen.

Now click on the icon that looks like a filing cabinet (kind of yellow) on the main drive. It should already be green. You will see a list of all the folders on the main drive (Usually C:). Shrink that window to the narrowest you can. Drag that window to the left side of the screen. At this point you should have 2 windows open on your desktop, Flash drive on the right and C: on the left. Go back to the folders on the C: drive. Click on the Documents and Settings folder, then your user name or all users. Find the folders that has your data then drag and drop the folder with the data you want to make copies of to the flash drive window.

Your options are to move, copy, ect. Select COPY. If its to big you will have to open the folder and drag and drop individual files until the flash drive is full.

Click on the drives mounter you minimized earlier. Unmount the Flash drive by clicking on the green icon. You will once in awhile get error messages when unmounting the drive, ignore them. When the flash drive icon turns red again its safe to remove the flash drive.

Plug the Flash drive into the other computer then copy all the data files ( I drag and drop) to the other computer. Make sure the other computer can read them.

Now delete the data on the flash drive, then take it back to the other computer and repeat until all data is copied.

Above taken from here: Help with Windows XP (Won't Start) on GeeksToGo.