Author Topic: Recovering My Documents (Read 288 times)

OOZ662 · « **on:** October 11, 2007, 07:43:39 PM »

I'm repairing a computer for a friend who has a drive that's most likely going bad and has some sort of virus that won't allow the drive to boot. I've set up the machine with a new drive but of course it won't let me open or correctly copy a My Documents folder.

I have a copy of Hiren's Boot CD. Anything useful on there? A mini-Linux setup?

Spatula · « **Reply #1 on:** October 11, 2007, 10:46:44 PM »

you could try "GetDataBack" - google it. comes in FAT and NTFS flavours and can resuce lost data.

MrRiplEy[H] · « **Reply #2 on:** October 12, 2007, 02:16:54 AM »

R-studio is relatively cheap and works good on recovering data.

OOZ662 · « **Reply #3 on:** October 12, 2007, 08:23:38 AM »

The data is intact as far as I can tell, it's the "Access is denied" problem that comes with opening a My Documents folder that isn't yours. Will those pieces of software work in that situation?

SOB · « **Reply #4 on:** October 12, 2007, 08:57:28 AM »

You just need to give yourself rights to the folder...

Log into the new OS as an administrator.
Open up My computer.
Click on Tools > Folder Options > View, and uncheck "Use simple file sharing" at the bottom of the list.
Right-click on his old user folder (\Documents and Settings\[username]), then select Properties.
Click on the Security Tab.
Click on Add, Type the name of his account, click on OK
Give him Full Control...
Click on Advanced, and edit the entry you added for him...there will be a drop-down to select "Apply onto this folder, subfolders, and files"
Click on OK and it'll probably tick away for a bit re-applying the security to all the folders/files under his old user folder.

Irwink! · « **Reply #5 on:** October 12, 2007, 10:59:33 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by SOB
You just need to give yourself rights to the folder...

Log into the new OS as an administrator.
Open up My computer.
Click on Tools > Folder Options > View, and uncheck "Use simple file sharing" at the bottom of the list.
Right-click on his old user folder (\Documents and Settings\[username]), then select Properties.
Click on the Security Tab.
Click on Add, Type the name of his account, click on OK
Give him Full Control...
Click on Advanced, and edit the entry you added for him...there will be a drop-down to select "Apply onto this folder, subfolders, and files"
Click on OK and it'll probably tick away for a bit re-applying the security to all the folders/files under his old user folder.

That should work if he has XP Pro. XP Home won't allow you to disable Simple File Sharing though.

OOZ662 · « **Reply #6 on:** October 12, 2007, 04:44:04 PM »

New and old operating systems are Home SP2.

OOZ662 · « **Reply #7 on:** October 12, 2007, 11:43:19 PM »

Booting the old drive in Safe Mode as Administrator allowed me to get access. I had to force the permissions to change; I think a virus had locked even the user out of their folder before managing to trash the hardware before it got to me.