[twoblueeyes15]

Hey all,


A few months ago, my laptop died. Sadly enough, luckily my HDD was not in the laptop when it fried. (yes, I was servicing my laptop, stupid mistake that I will never repeat) I've purchased a really nice desktop in the meantime.

Now I need to get VERY important files off that HDD, that I didn't need before... But I'm in need of them now.


A few weeks ago, I bought a ATA (to USB) External HDD Enclosure from NewEgg.Com. The HDD popped right into the external enclosure perfectly, I plugged in the USB cable that came with the HDD Enclosure. It recognized the HDD instantly, powered up, searched the HDD, and added it as "Drive: K".

Problem solved, right? -- Wrong.

Well, I went to K: > Documents and Settings > :: user name here :: . And bam, I'm not allowed to view this folder for some odd reason, so I go back and find the user "owner" and I can view it's documents, same with All Users, etc...

I've drawn the conclusion that when I passworded & Privatized my documents, it locked me out unless I'm logged into that specific account.. Sad isn't it? Indeed.

Any who, I decided that I should try booting from my HDD using the BOOT FROM USB Option. It boots up WinXP until it hits the log-in screen then it gives me the blue screen of death, understandable since Microsoft says that you can't boot windows from a USB device.

Alright, so... I'm stuck. I've been looking around and I have an idea. I need to run it by you guys though, just to be certain.

I need a ATA to IDE cable... Pretty much. But no one sells cables like those... Sadly enough.

I did find a few USB 2.0 to IDE products that support ATA & IDE. And essentially make a ATA to IDE cable.

For instance:

1. Product one:

Product Page

A piece in this set pretty much a ATA to IDE converter. See below.



So I could plug in the ATA pin slot into my HDD and plug in the IDE slot into my IDE ribbon inside my computer, (and the power adapter... of course).. Then boot into the drive, burn any files that I need on a cd, etc...

2. Product two:

Product Page

This set also has a ATA to IDE converter (IMO). See Below.



So I could plug in the ATA pin slot into my HDD and plug in the IDE slot into my IDE ribbon inside my computer, (and the power adapter... of course).. Then boot into the drive, burn any files that I need on a cd, etc...

Any thoughts? I may not have explained myself that well, sorry.

Perhaps a PCI ATA Controller would help me out?

Thank you so much for all of your help in advance!

Edited by twoblueeyes15, 10 January 2006 - 02:43 PM.

[Advertisements]

all you need to do is take ownership of those files. if you browse over to the file.. right click it, then do properties > security > advanced > owner> there should be a list of users that you can change the owner of the files to..you click the one you want and do apply...you may need to be logged on as administrator to do this

[dsenette]

all you need to do is take ownership of those files. if you browse over to the file.. right click it, then do properties > security > advanced > owner> there should be a list of users that you can change the owner of the files to..you click the one you want and do apply...you may need to be logged on as administrator to do this

[twoblueeyes15]

Wow, that worked.

I see... It only makes the security modifications to that one folder, not all of the folders within. Can I automate teh proccess some how?

Wow thanks man...

[dsenette]

eh...i haven't found a way to automate the ownership taking process....it's kind of....click > do > click > do > drink some cofee > click > do.....tedious...but it's the best method

[twoblueeyes15]

alright, thanks...

one last thing,

with the my document folders (inside it) they don't let me edit their ownership directly, i have to go advanced and enable a bunch of other crap before hand, then it will finally let me add my u/n.. anyideas?

[dsenette]

to my knowledge (not 100% on this) the things that get saved in my documents are assumed that you want to be private...so it's a little harder to take ownership..that's why they're called MY DOCUMENTS not everyone's documents...

[warriorscot]

As long as you can get to the files even if it takes a while i would do it, you could maybe get the drive to boot up on your new PC if you tried using a boot disk and doing a repair install but i wouldnt like to try that unless you have to it doesnt always work.

[twoblueeyes15]

Alright, thanks guys.

You've been a huge help.