Can't access files on HD

wakkawa

Ok so I have a harddrive that I put in an external case that has a lot of things I want off of it, but when I click on the username to go to the my documents folder it says access is denied.

How do I get my megahurtz back?

Zxerol

Ah, good ol' NTFS ACLs. What you have to do is reset the permissions for the folder, which may or may not be a trivial task.

Here's some general steps:

• Turn off simple file sharing. In an explorer window, Tools->Folder Options->View tab, scroll all the way down. Untick "Use simple file sharing (recommended)".
• Right-click on the folder you want to access and go to Properties. Open the Security tab and clicked on Advanced.
• In the security box, go to the Owner tab, select your user account (it should be an administrator-level account, or you can use the "Administrators" group), tick "Replace owner on subcontainers and objects", press OK to accept and close this dialog box.
• Finally, while still in the file properties box, click on the Add button for Group and user names, add your account name, and give it Full Control for that account.

Keep in mind these steps are for XP Professional. XP Home doesn't have these options to my knowledge, so you may have to resort to third-party tools or use the command line cacls editor. Or, you can try plugging it into a Mac or Linux box, which doesn't honor NTFS permissions (although I believe that Leopard actually does).

wakkawa

Awesome thanks! I'll take it to my brothers work to try those out today.