Unable to access drive; "Access is Denied"

[mikescorpio81]

Hi all,

My clients laptop hard drive is failing. It is an older Sony Vaio. I replaced the hard drive yesterday and re-installed Windows, etc. The original hard drive is picked up by my PC via a IDE - USB adapter. It appears as 2 hard drives (partitioned).

I was able to retrieve all data from one partition, but the OS partition, which holds Windows and Profile data, cannot be accessed. I receive an error 'Access is Denied" when I try to open the clients default profile. I cannot copy it either as the same error appears.

I need to get into his profile to retrieve his .PST files and other important data. So far I have tried a CACLS command and a boot disk (MINIPE2) but to no avail.

Are there any programs out there that would allow me to get around NTFS file permissions or similar work-around?

NOTE: I know Techspot do not generally condone security hacks, but it is for work purposes. Private messages would be a good alternative rather than replying.

Any help would be appreciated.

Cheers

 

[mickzer]

Maybe this will help:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=308421

HTH
mickzer

 

[mikescorpio81]

Thanks for the reply, but it does not work. I cannot configure permissions over the folder. The user originally set his folders to 'Private", which means only the original Windows sessions, logged in as the user, can access these files.

Cheers

 

[mickzer]

Sorry to give you another link, but is there anything here:
http://search.microsoft.com/results.aspx?mkt=en-US&setlang=en-US&q=NTFS+file+permissions

mickzer.

 

[mikescorpio81]

Thanks for the links, I'll read on ...

 

[mikescorpio81]

UPDATE:

I managed to gain access to the files by creating an identical logon of the original user, which then allowed me to take ownership of the files.

Currently I am copying off anything that is not corrupt or unreadable and it seems to be working.

Thanks for the help :grinthumb

 

[mickzer]

OK! Nice one. Glad you got it sorted.

mickzer.