hey guys,

I had to format my computer yesterday cos I had a load of problems with different software crashes and what not.
All my files were backed up in my My Documents directory of which is stored on my second HDD.

However I've had a problem since I reinstalled. I can't get access to the my documents folder on my second HDD for some reason. Windows just keeps on saying that access is denied.

My user details are all the same as before plus I'm the only user, and therefore the administrator, of the system.

Anyone got any suggestions as my files are really important, such as uni work and personal letters etc.

Did you have directory encryption enabled on the my docs folder? (I think windows sets it if you choose "make my files private") or if you ticked encrypt in folder properties... if so you may be stuck if you don't have the recovery cert. from the last install.

It could also just be directory permissions, try enabling full file sharing, then sharing the folder and adding guest or your user to the allowed list then see if you can copy them.

Sounds about right.. I had that same thing happen to me once and never got my files back. Fortunately I was able to format then use recovery software and get all my files back.

buy, beg, borrow or steal a copy of Disk Commander. its part of the winternals administrators pack. It got me out of the exact same situation.
if you cant get that try r-studio....although I can only personaly recommend the previous.

Hey guys, I tried disk commander but it will only allow me to restore or salvage patitions and volumes rather than individual folders and files.

Anyone got any ideas.

What I would ask is.. 1 are you running a Raid Board or are you "daisy" chaining your drives. 2 When you reloaded XP did you format it using NTFS or FAT32..both drives have to be NTFS. HAve you tried taking the drive out and Daisy chaining it on another machine to get your data? Just some ideas .. :-?

Try to use ntfsreader my friend. Its a small dos programm than can read and copy files from any ntfs drive into floppy disks or other fat32 drives..
If you can't find it i can mail it to you.

there we are all sorted.

I was trying to use the wrong version of disk commander. Version 1.0 only works with partitions apparently but version 1.02 works with files directly from the HDD>

i agree with bofilis, ntfsreader is a small dos proggy which can be added to bootable. on booting the machine with it , u can view , read, copy files and folders from NTFS partiton. if u cant find it ; i will mail it to you.

note- i havent yet tried the above actions myself.

Kyro

Update:- here is the link to ntfsdos proggy .... http://www.ntfs.com/downloads/readntfs.zip

So what your user details are the same, the SID (Security Identifier) is different.

These files are linked to a SID that no longer exists you need to take ownership of these files to become yours as currently no user owns them.

right click on the folder, properties, security, advanced, owner, then tick the box to take onwership.

Doesn't anyone understand NT properly ?

Ye but this is XP not NT.

those menus aren't available in XP I tried that when I first incurred the problem.

XP and 2000 are all NT and yes those menu's are available you may need to go to tools, folder options, view and untick simple folder sharing.

Sparkesy do post back finally which option helped you . i hav never encountered this problem . so would be glad if i knew what solves it , when it comes.

Kyro.

Trust me, I have worked with NT for years (2000, XP are all based on NT)
and I have seen this problem many times and yes you need to take ownership of the files as you deleted your SID when you formatted leaving the files with no owner.

Only Admins can take ownership.

I get the feeling HOMER is right :roll: ... or maybe not ... :roll: . or may be ...........