Can't break into my old computer

[Anto]

Hello all, I'm a new member here. I've read through some threads and it sounds like most of you really know what you're talking about. I have a computer issue which I hope you can solve. I recently purchased an HP desk top. My old emachine died on me, the power supply went. I tried a new power supply, but it still wouldn't fire up. I have hundreds of pictures on the old drive that I would like to retrieve. I installed the old hard drive into the new computer and and "slaved" it. The new computer did recognize it as "J" drive and I was able to access almost anything on the old. The problem is, I cannot access "my documents" under "documents and settings". I can access shared documents and some others. I would have to guess that the "documents and settings" folder is only viewable by computer administrator. If this is the case, how would go about entering my old user name and password. It does not give me the option. I tried to set the old drive as the master but it won't boot up. If I could get it to boot up, then the screen which asks for user name and password would probably pop up, then I could simply type them in and have administrator privileges. Any help on this issue would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Teaser261]

I would post this in the "CPU's, Chipsets , and Mobo's" catagorie. You will get more traffic of people that are knowledgeable and looking to help with this type of problem.As for trying to boot with the old hard drive, it won't work.The OS on it would normally only be recognized by the original system in which it was originally installed. Also, WELCOME to TECHSPOT. Please read the guides to making a good post, it will help you and the others to solve your problems faster.

 

[RealBlackStuff]

See this post in the Guides forum: https://www.techspot.com/vb/topic8914.html

 

[Tarkus]

it's a hidden folder, go to explorer click tools/folder options/view, check 'Display contents of system folders' and 'show hidden files'. Now you should be able to see it in explorer on Drive letter/Documents and settings/user/my documents.

 

[Hatrick]

This is an out and out guess on my part.

I wonder if you were to boot from a Knoppix or 'Ubuntu live CD' (both freeware), it would ignore Windows file permissions and allow you to burn your documents to CD/DVD? It is one recommended way of retrieving material when Windows won't boot.

Let us know if it works; could be valuable to someone else.

 

[Teaser261]

Hatrick sounds like he's onto something. I would be interested to find out , as I have a similar project coming up. Good luck.

 

[klaw24]

@Hattrick, it just might work, but would the live CD be able to access the NTFS file system? I tried this once, but I'm not quite sure whether the file system was NTFS. I personally use the Bart-PE CD to tackle such issues. Oh, and by the way, I once recovered my encrypted data from a deleted user profile by using a file recovery tool- Active@File Recovery.

 

[Hatrick]

< it just might work, but would the live CD be able to access the NTFS file system? >
Do you imagine I'd tell a Chelsea supporter?

Seriously, the information came from Oxford University Department of computing - advice to students who couldn't boot into Windows - so I'd guess it's kosher.

 

[klaw24]

Do you imagine I'd tell a Chelsea supporter?

What's footy got to do with this? I just expressed my doubt, you could have simply cleared it.

 

[Hatrick]

It was supposed to be a joke which was why the following sentence began with the word 'seriously'.

 

[klaw24]

It was supposed to be a joke which was why the following sentence began with the word 'seriously'.

No problem mate, but it seems that everyone has suddenly become a Chelsea-baiter, so we guys need to be on the defensive all the time []