Help Needed to access files from OLD hard drive !

[jerz]

This is the situation, my old computer running Windows XP Pro crashed, I bought a new computer running XP Home Edition and took the old hard drive and set it up as a slave on the new computer. I was able to transfer all of my picture files from the old hard drive without a problem since I had them in a regular folded under the main C: drive (Now F: drive).
The problem is that I have over 1000 ripped mp3's on the old drive but they were in my DOCUMENTS and SETTINGS file under my main sign in User (Administrator) that was password protected on the old drive. I tried to copy those mp3's to the new drive and get an error message FILE IS IN USE or ACCESS DENIED READ ONLY FILE when I try to copy the files to the new C drive. I have tried to move those file to the SHARED DOCUMENT file on the same hard drive and still get the error message and then tried to move them to the NEW drive shared documents folder which also failed and it wont let me access the files or even play them in Windows Media player or rip them to disk.
HOW do I gain access to those files to move or copy them WITHOUT using that drive as a bootup drive? I have also tried Un-Checking the READ ONLY box under properties for the folder their in without success as well. I would hate to loose all those files, there is hundreds of hours of work there to re-rip them to the new hard drive........
Thanks for any help you can give me, this has been driving me INSANE !!!

Bill

[Miz]

Turn off the Indexing service (Control Panel>Administrative Tools>Services; scroll down to, double click on Indexing, click the Stop button, try moving the files again). That fixes the "file in use" most of the time.

If that doesn't work or you get a message about "access denied" and something about "permissions," follow the steps in the MS KB article, How to take ownership of a file or folder in Windows XP to get to your files.

The "Read only" setting on folders is meaningless and Windows ignores it. Check any folder (not file) on the drive and you'll see they're all marked "read only." Nobody but Microsoft programmers know why.

[jerz]

Originally posted by Miz
Turn off the Indexing service (Control Panel>Administrative Tools>Services; scroll down to, double click on Indexing, click the Stop button, try moving the files again). That fixes the "file in use" most of the time.

If that doesn't work or you get a message about "access denied" and something about "permissions," follow the steps in the MS KB article, How to take ownership of a file or folder in Windows XP to get to your files.

The "Read only" setting on folders is meaningless and Windows ignores it. Check any folder (not file) on the drive and you'll see they're all marked "read only." Nobody but Microsoft programmers know why.

MIZ....Can't Thank You enough! I had to use the HOW TO TAKE OWNERSHIP directions but it worked like a charm !!! Took me about 5 min. and I reclaimed ALL of my music files...... I owe ya a nice cold Brew for that one!!! Thank You Thank You Thank You !!!

Bill
Drummer
~Montecore~
www.montecore.8my.com

[pip22]

The "Read only" setting on folders is meaningless and Windows ignores it. Check any folder (not file) on the drive and you'll see they're all marked "read only." Nobody but Microsoft programmers know why.

The read-only setting for folders is actually 'disabled' as denoted
by the solid block in that option's tick-box. You can put a tick in it
but when you close and re-check it, the tick has gone and the solid block is there again. So you are incorrect in saying that all folders are marked 'read only'. They are actually all marked as 'read only disabled', which makes perfect sense to most of us, including MS programmers.

[avvr]

I have a similar problem (not sure if it is same) and this solution didn't seem to work. I have Windows XP professional edition. I have about 200 mp3 files in 1 folder. They were working till recently. I can't play them anymore using WMP or iTunes. If I try to rename, move or copy them, I get a message

---------------------------
Error Copying File or Folder
---------------------------
Cannot copy <<fname>>: Access is denied.

Make sure the disk is not full or write-protected
and that the file is not currently in use.
---------------------------
OK
---------------------------

My disk is not full or write-protected, and the file is not in use. The files are stored under folders in My Music under My Documents.

Any more suggestions, please on what I need to do to get access to the files?

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Originally Posted by Miz

Turn off the Indexing service (Control Panel>Administrative Tools>Services; scroll down to, double click on Indexing, click the Stop button, try moving the files again). That fixes the "file in use" most of the time.

If that doesn't work or you get a message about "access denied" and something about "permissions," follow the steps in the MS KB article, How to take ownership of a file or folder in Windows XP to get to your files.

The "Read only" setting on folders is meaningless and Windows ignores it. Check any folder (not file) on the drive and you'll see they're all marked "read only." Nobody but Microsoft programmers know why.

[Miz]

Originally Posted by pip22

The "Read only" setting on folders is meaningless and Windows ignores it. Check any folder (not file) on the drive and you'll see they're all marked "read only." Nobody but Microsoft programmers know why.

The read-only setting for folders is actually 'disabled' as denoted
by the solid block in that option's tick-box. You can put a tick in it
but when you close and re-check it, the tick has gone and the solid block is there again. So you are incorrect in saying that all folders are marked 'read only'. They are actually all marked as 'read only disabled', which makes perfect sense to most of us, including MS programmers.

Thanks for the clarification. I was going to take offense at the condescension in your post but I read a dozen or so of your other posts and it seems to be a common theme so I won't take it personally.

[Ant]

AVVR look here:

http://www.softwarepatch.com/tips/howto-delete-xp.html

[bocchio]

Did you ever solve the problem of accessing the folder on the external drive? I have exactly your same problem but I haven’t been able to solve it I’m wondering if you been able to fix it, in case you did, please let me know.
Cheers,


Giovanni Bocchieri

[Old3DNut]

Miz,

I joined this forum just so I could say thanks for the great advice. I had the exact same trouble as jerz and wasn't sure how to get Windows to free up some of the encrypted files on my old C drive. The index service was not running on my new machine so I checked out the Microsoft link you provided... right on the money! Just to let everyone know, the XP Home directions work exactly the same for the Media Center edition (which is what my new box is running).

Thanks again,
Old3DNut

P.S. - I hit this site on a Google search... great stuff in here! I love new bookmarks...

[cisbost]

I had the exact same problem with a large folder of .jpg files that I uploaded from a scanner. The Microsoft link "How to take ownership of a file or folder in Windows XP" works and it takes about 5 minutes.

[dgrant]

Originally Posted by cisbost

I had the exact same problem with a large folder of .jpg files that I uploaded from a scanner. The Microsoft link "How to take ownership of a file or folder in Windows XP" works and it takes about 5 minutes.

After installing new hard drive - one account was passwor dprotected - have tried all suggestions that I can find and still am unable to access drive - XP home - Went into indexing - stop is enabled. Explorer tools - no file sharing option listed - no security tab available either - Unless I am missing something - I have no clue what to do now. Have gone to the Microsoft link and tried that. Yes I am in safe mode while attempting to resolve issue.

Would appreciate any help that you might have. Thanks! Deb

[MDelia8]

Im having the same problem as dgrant. None of this seems to work for me. I am running Windows XP Home Edition 2002 Service Pack 2. I have a slave hard drive with old password protected files in my Documents and Settings folder. When I right click the folder there is no security tab. In Indexing stop is enabled. In my folder options there is No simple file sharing option for me to check or uncheck. I have searched all over to figure out how to resolve this I thought this post was my answer but it seems I can't win. If someone can please help I would greatly appreciate it. Thank You.

MDelia8

[AlexJ]

Hi
I had pretty much the same problem, which is how I found this forum. The "how to take ownership" bit in post 2 was key for me - I had to start the PC in Safe Mode and then the security tab became available. After that it all worked brilliantly, and I managed to retrieve 7GB of photos from my old hard drive which had been put as a slave into my son's PC (copying them from one drive to the other was what took time!).
Alex

[krawnight]

Originally Posted by Miz

If that doesn't work or you get a message about "access denied" and something about "permissions," follow the steps in the MS KB article, How to take ownership of a file or folder in Windows XP to get to your files.

That was it EXACTLY! Thank you SO much!

[Padillaz]

I joined this forum to thank all of you (Miz) for helping me out with this issue I had with my machine. I had the same problem and your solution helped me out of a rut...

Thanks a million
J