Can't access old hard drive,

[ColMac12]

Hi, i have just upgraded my computer to 64bit after my last computer failed on me, i think that in the process of my last computer failing, windows must have corrupt as i can't load up windows with this hard disk - i just get a blue screen error straight away after the windows xp loading bar comes up and the computer restarts itself. my old and new computer are AMD with ASUS mobo's, i tried the hard drive in an intel computer and had the same problem.

I have now installed windows on a different hard disk and have set the original as a slave, i can now access the drive, but can't retrieve all my documents, because being security concious i set some folders private, is there anyway i can get around this? also i had a lot of e-mails with outlook which i'd like to retrieve if i could.

Cheers for any help people!
Colin

- sorry for making you read loads!!

[Coconut Monkey]

The reason Windows failed to boot previously is because of your drastic hardware change and not removing the old drivers beforehand. Regardless, it is highly recommended you reinstall Windows when swapping motherboards and/or video cards.

For retrieval of your old files, try this.

[ColMac12]

Good Work! Thank you very much indeed!!

[goldeagle2005]

I have now installed windows on a different hard disk and have set the original as a slave, i can now access the drive, but can't retrieve all my documents, because being security concious i set some folders private, is there anyway i can get around this? also i had a lot of e-mails with outlook which i'd like to retrieve if i could.

If by setting folders private, you mean setting up NTFS access permissions, you could recover your data. Right click the file/folder and click Properties. Click the Security tab and click Advanced. Click the Owner tab. Under "Change owner to", click Administrators (or whichever user/group you want to give ownership to). Now check the box labelled "Replace owner on all subcontainers and objects." and click OK twice to exit the file properties. Now, right click the file/folder > Properties > Security tab > Advanced. Now, under the permissions tab, click the button labelled "Add". In the box that pops up, type the user/group you want to give permissions to and click OK. Now, under the box titled "Permission Entry for [file/folder name], under permissions, give the required permissions (or give full control, depending on your needs).Click Ok thrice to exit the properties. You should now be able to access files.

Regarding your problems with MS Outlook, you need to open up the Documents and Settings folder in your old Windows installation. Go to the following path: "\Documents and Settings\<username>\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook". Copy the file named outlook.pst to the same location in your new Windows installation. This should do the trick. If not, get back to me and we'll see from there.

[ColMac12]

Thank you, works a treat, files and e-mails recovered!!

:)

[goldeagle2005]

No problem. Glad to help.

[zxr]

Hi,

If you had a lot of e-mails with outlook which you'd like to retrieve You can try a popular Outlook recovery tool called Advanced Outlook Repair to repair your PST file. It is a powerful tool to recover messages, folders and other objects from corrupt or damaged Microsoft Outlook PST files.

Detailed information about Advanced Outlook Repair can be found at http://www.datanumen.com/aor/

And you can also download a free demo version at http://www.datanumen.com/aor/aor.exe

Alan