NTFS access :(

**thePENTIUM** · February 14th, 2004, 01:29 AM

Hey guys!

Heres the deal: I've got an 80 gb WD drive that is starting to go dead on me. So I switched to a new hard driver and installed xp, and all is well. So I hooked up the old 80 gb as a slave to get my old data off of it, but the NTFS wont let me access the "documents and settings" folder which is where all my things are. I tried to boot off my old drive and see if I could change it but it locks up every 2 minutes, and then kicks back in after 20 minutes. (Which is why I got a new drive.) :-p

Even If I was able to get into my old drive I wouldn't know what setting to change. And since I cant get in, is there anything else I can do to keep my old data?

thanks!
~pent

**viztech** · February 14th, 2004, 01:33 AM

I assume you have XP Home.

Go into Safe Mode, then Windows Explorer. You can reset security on all of the folders there.

viz

edit
more detailed info.

Restore Private Folders
I had to reinstall Windows XP on a system containing private folders. Now I can't get back into these folders, even though I've created the same user names as before. What can I do?
Reboot your PC, and before Windows starts loading, press F8 to view the boot menu. Select Safe Mode and log on with an Administrator-level account.
Once XP is running in Safe Mode, open Windows Explorer, right-click a private folder, and select Properties. Click Security, Advanced, Owner. Select the appropriate owner in the 'Change owner to' box, select Replace owner on subcontainers and objects, and click OK. At the warning, click Yes. Reboot to return to normal Windows

**thePENTIUM** · February 14th, 2004, 01:42 AM

Ok Ill try, depends on whether I can get in at all. Are there any command line tools?

**Siliconjunkie** · February 14th, 2004, 02:20 AM

So you can see the drive but not get into the Documents and Settings folder?

calcs will change permissions easily. I can't recall if it is included with XP or is with the resource kit.

To see if its there just run 'calcs' froma command prompt and see if you get te output below:

Code:

Displays or modifies access control lists (ACLs) of files

CACLS filename [/T] [/E] [/C] [/G user:perm] [/R user [...]]
               [/P user:perm [...]] [/D user [...]]
   filename      Displays ACLs.
   /T            Changes ACLs of specified files in
                 the current directory and all subdirectories.
   /E            Edit ACL instead of replacing it.
   /C            Continue on access denied errors.
   /G user:perm  Grant specified user access rights.
                 Perm can be: R  Read
                              W  Write
                              C  Change (write)
                              F  Full control
   /R user       Revoke specified user's access rights (only valid with /E).
   /P user:perm  Replace specified user's access rights.
                 Perm can be: N  None
                              R  Read
                              W  Write
                              C  Change (write)
                              F  Full control
   /D user       Deny specified user access.
Wildcards can be used to specify more that one file in a command.
You can specify more than one user in a command.

Abbreviations:
   CI - Container Inherit.
        The ACE will be inherited by directories.
   OI - Object Inherit.
        The ACE will be inherited by files.
   IO - Inherit Only.
        The ACE does not apply to the current file/directory.

If you have it, you should be able to do something like this:

[code]
calcs driveletter /* /T /E /p administrator:f
[code]
What this will do is grant administrator full control of all the files on that drive.

If you get a bunch of failures, then you may need to take ownership. This can be done with command line tools too, I will have to go find the name.

**sechs** · February 14th, 2004, 03:48 AM

Unless you denied the administrator read rights, all you need to do is login as an administrator and copy the files.

That is assuming that ACLs are the issue, and not the fact that there seems to be something wrong with the drive....

**thePENTIUM** · February 14th, 2004, 11:18 AM

Well I tried CACLS with multiple arguments etc., but I kept getting access denied when it got to the documents and settings folder. The user I used to do this has admin priveleges and is currently the only account on this pc.

Do I need to change file owners? If so how?

**Bill in SD, CA** · February 14th, 2004, 11:24 AM

Maybe this will help.

Bill

**thePENTIUM** · February 14th, 2004, 11:44 AM

Unfortunatly I am running XP Home and therefore have no option but simple file sharing. :?

**viztech** · February 14th, 2004, 08:00 PM

You DO need to take ownership of the files and folders to change permissions after the re-install.

Did you try the method that I outlined above? It worked for me....

viz