the motherboard on two of my computers fried. I want to access the old hard drives from my laptop. the old comp were running XP and so is my laptop. I dont want to copy the entire hard drives, just the pictures and documents. I bought an external hard drive that i was going to put the the stuff from the old hard drives on to, but first i need to access the files. i got a IDE to usb cable and i was going to buy either Norton PartitionMagic 8.0 or this other one from V com. however why can i not access my files with out using those software and just using the ide to usb? and wont this software copy everything including aot of the **** i dont need?
so i guess i want to know if there is any easy way to do this with or with out buying software. or prehaps there is better software to use.
im not too savy on doing this soo any help would be greatttt

Hello k, welcome to PCHF.

It sounds like the folders you are trying to access was made private.

What is the exact error message you receive, and can I confirm your trying to access c:\documents and settings\[your username]?

yeah when i go to access my documents and settings and to owner all the files will just say access denied. how do you made it not private??

Hi this link may help you.How to take ownership of a file or folder in Windows XP

You may need old name and password used for the origonal pc.

Windows File and Folder Ownership

How Do I Get the Security tab in Folder Properties


Windows XP: Set permissions for folders and files

okie dokie i am going to try it out and i hope it works.

Good Luck,let me know how it goes.

Thankyou.

Miss Jelly Bean.