Private Folder problems after new HD install

justin6666 · #1 01-27-2004, 09:30 PM

While using my computer one night , (a Dell 8200, 1.8ghz,256RD RAM, Windows XP(home at first)), the power in my house started to go on and off. For some reason my surge protecter didnt help and my hard drive began to mess up. Everytime I got on the computer, it can only stay on for a few minutes before it automatically restarts. Its a 50 gig, unknown drive manufacturer. I wont forget to mention that there were about 3 people who have user names on the computer, and I among another put a password protected login(this is all before the hard drive restarting). This bugged drive had XP Home edition.

So fed up with the amount of space left on the drive, and hoping to get a new drive to save my files I bought a new 200gig Western Digital harddrive with the Ultra TX card. I took out the old 50, and made the 200 master. I installed XP Professional Edition on the new 200 gig drive. Everything is going fine now. So I want to see if I can get my files back on my old 50 gig drive with Home edition installed. And I reinstall the old 50 as a slave.

So I have 2 drives installed on my computer. The Primary is a 200gig with XP Professional, and the secondary is a 50gig with XP HOME edition. Then I began to look for my files on the original 50 gig to get them back. I go to Documents and settings, and go to my desktop. On my old desktop, I had put a folder that couldnt be opened by any other users, (Make this folder Private option) before when the drive was working fine. However I cant open the file, and the file says that is holds 0 kb. Is there a way that I can open my file? This file is a private file on my old harddrive, running under XP HOME. Im trying to open it and bring it to my primary 200 gig XP Professional drive. But as i said before, the folder is private and I cant open it under my login name on the primary drive. Have I lost all my information? When I was running the original 50 gig drive, me and my other members filled it so much that we had about 8 gigs left. Thats including my work folder. Now the drive still has only 8 gigs left, but my work folder that is private had about 7 to 8 gigs of work in it. But now the folder says its 0 kb, even when the original drive hadn't changed in space being used. Is the folder being held in a temporary limbo?

I have the same user name on my Primary drive as the old one. Will that effect anything?

Any help or any constructive response is extremly welcome, and I appreciate it if anyone has gotten this far in reading my problem.

TrueRollers · #2 01-27-2004, 10:43 PM

You are gonna have to reboot with the bad drive, try to backup the files if you can stay on long enough. Or if not, remove all password protection and file protection. If you remove all the passwords and such, you should be able to use Files and Settings transfer wizzard to move your files, or even just move them from within explorer youself. Good luck! Don't worry all hope is not lost! I have been there before.

Steve-k · #3 03-13-2004, 06:26 AM

I'm having the same problem. Only the solution to mine isn't as easy. You see i had to replace my whole windows install, so the folder that was marked private isn't telling me in. Problem is, the OS that made it doesn't exist anymore, so i can't gain access. I'm sure there is a way around this, any ideas?