Unable to copy folder from hard drive

[spkenny]

I have a customers computer I am about to do a reformat on. Naturally I need to back up mainly their pictures, but preferrably the entire 'my documents' folder. What I am running into is an error box saying 'cannot copy'. I am thinking there is some sort of protection on the drive, but am unaware of how to find this out. Any suggestions?

 

[LookinAround]

Which version of Windows are you running? And what exactly is the error message.

It might just be a matter of access permissions. Are you logged on to an account with Admin rights?

You can try
1) Taking ownership of accounts/modifying permissions (see here)
2) Or just boot into Knoppix (an alternate operating system) and then copy the files See [post=766270]How to recover your folders/files when Windows won’t boot[/post]

 

[spkenny]

I have now scanned the hard drive for errors. scan came up as a pass with a thorough check. The exact message simply says 'Error copy.... then below that 'Cannot copy file.'
I am running windows XP Pro, and the operating system on the hard drive I'm attempting to copy from is winxp home. I thought accessing permissions was only done when you were prompted about administrator rights? Is this basically the same thing with the message I'm getting?

I should also mention I am reading this hard drive from a usb/ide adapter, so no, I am not logged in at all. Usually when it requires an admin for rights, it wont even let you look at the folders or open them, which I am able to do.