Locked out of my documents - Help please

>Yeah wrote:
>

>>
>> I was running a Windows XP Pro system with the user account password
>> protected and my documents private.
>>
>> The motherboard failed.
>>
>> The cheapest solution was to buy a new computer which naturally
>> came with Vista (Home basic).
>>
>> The drive in the new computer is a WDC Sata drive and so is the drive
>> from the old computer. I plugged the old drive into the new computer
>> as a second disk & and can see everything on it. I copied some data
>> files to the new computer - no problem - then I tried to copy My
>> Documents. I was denied access. I gained ownership of the My
>> Documents folder on the old drive and could then see the contents but
>> I can't gain ownership of the files. Thousands of photos and some Word
>> & Excel files are there but I can't get at them.
>>
>> Have I lost everything?
>>
>> I tried unplugging the HDD from the new computer & plugging in the old
>> HDD. It gets as far as saying Windows XP & then I get a blue screen,
>> probably a Sata driver related problem.

>
>Try taking ownership again. I suspect you only took ownership of the parent
>folder and didn't check the box so all the child objects (files/folders)
>will inherit the parent's (My Documents) permissions.

>
>If that still doesn't work, did you encrypt the files with either XP Pro's
>EFS or a third-party encryption program? If yes, did you remember to export
>your keys?
>
>If you didn't use encryption but still can't take ownership (and I'm not
>sure why this isn't working for you), I'd boot with a Linux live CD like
>Knoppix and use it to copy the files over to a different folder. Linux
>won't honor Windows' permissions.
>
>Malke

> You are right, I did only take ownership of the parent folder,
> realised what I'd done and took ownership of sub folders individually.
> Problem is I'm not familiar with Vista & don't know how to start
> afresh as you suggest. Can you help.
> Much appreciate your quick reply.

>Yeah wrote:
>

>> You are right, I did only take ownership of the parent folder,
>> realised what I'd done and took ownership of sub folders individually.
>> Problem is I'm not familiar with Vista & don't know how to start
>> afresh as you suggest. Can you help.
>> Much appreciate your quick reply.

>
>You don't need to start over. Just:
>
>1. Right-click the folder that you want to take ownership of, and then click
>Properties.
>2. Click the Security tab, click Advanced, and then click the Owner tab.
>3. Click Edit. Administrator permission required If you are prompted for an
>administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide
>confirmation.
>4. Click the name of the person you want to give ownership to.
>5. If you want that person to be the owner of files and subfolders in this
>folder, select the Replace owner on subcontainers and objects check box.
>6. Click OK
>
>#5 is key in your case.
>
>Malke

>>You don't need to start over. Just:
>>
>>1. Right-click the folder that you want to take ownership of, and then
>>click Properties.
>>2. Click the Security tab, click Advanced, and then click the Owner tab.
>>3. Click Edit. Administrator permission required If you are prompted for
>>an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide
>>confirmation.
>>4. Click the name of the person you want to give ownership to.
>>5. If you want that person to be the owner of files and subfolders in this
>>folder, select the Replace owner on subcontainers and objects check box.
>>6. Click OK
>>
>>#5 is key in your case.

>
> Brilliant!!
> Problem solved.
> Thank you very much indeed.

>
> I was running a Windows XP Pro system with the user account password
> protected and my documents private.
>
> The motherboard failed.
>
> The cheapest solution was to buy a new computer which naturally
> came with Vista (Home basic).
>
> The drive in the new computer is a WDC Sata drive and so is the drive
> from the old computer. I plugged the old drive into the new computer
> as a second disk & and can see everything on it. I copied some data
> files to the new computer - no problem - then I tried to copy My
> Documents. I was denied access. I gained ownership of the My
> Documents folder on the old drive and could then see the contents but
> I can't gain ownership of the files. Thousands of photos and some Word
> & Excel files are there but I can't get at them.
>
> Have I lost everything?
>
> I tried unplugging the HDD from the new computer & plugging in the old
> HDD. It gets as far as saying Windows XP & then I get a blue screen,
> probably a Sata driver related problem.
>
> Any helpful suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks.
>
> Ed

>Don't forget to add a permission giving yourself full control over the files
>after you take ownership of them.
>
>- JB

>
>"Yeah" <bil@ben.com> wrote in message
>news:b4o4f4tsjj271c26gp88nek9cftdhhduar@4ax.com.. .

>>
>> I was running a Windows XP Pro system with the user account password
>> protected and my documents private.
>>
>> The motherboard failed.
>>
>> The cheapest solution was to buy a new computer which naturally
>> came with Vista (Home basic).
>>
>> The drive in the new computer is a WDC Sata drive and so is the drive
>> from the old computer. I plugged the old drive into the new computer
>> as a second disk & and can see everything on it. I copied some data
>> files to the new computer - no problem - then I tried to copy My
>> Documents. I was denied access. I gained ownership of the My
>> Documents folder on the old drive and could then see the contents but
>> I can't gain ownership of the files. Thousands of photos and some Word
>> & Excel files are there but I can't get at them.
>>
>> Have I lost everything?
>>
>> I tried unplugging the HDD from the new computer & plugging in the old
>> HDD. It gets as far as saying Windows XP & then I get a blue screen,
>> probably a Sata driver related problem.
>>
>> Any helpful suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks.
>>
>> Ed