Member Avatar for l00pylou

Hey folks

I have an external hardrive which is the back-up of a dead machine. I have managed to crack the windows security by resetting the security permissions as was denied - however, when the drive is plugged in (via USB) to a Vista machine (yeuch) it is showing as empty.

When plugged into an XP machine it loads as an internal drive - not an external device

How can I view the data on the Vista machine?

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by hughv

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Following and , here are targeted checks and safe fixes that go beyond "open in Explorer" or simple sharing. These steps focus on what Windows actually sees at the disk and filesystem level, and on non-destructive ways to reveal or recover files.

First, confirm what the OS reports for the disk (do this before writing anything). Run Disk Management (diskmgmt.msc) and compare the partition type and reported used space. If the partition shows as RAW or the used/available numbers disagree with what you expect, the filesystem or partition table may be damaged. If the disk is marked "Dynamic" or "Foreign", do not convert it to Basic — importing a foreign dynamic disk is only safe when all member disks from the original machine are present.

If Disk Management looks normal but Explorer shows nothing, check ownership and hidden/system attributes. From an elevated command prompt (run as Administrator) use these commands (replace E: with the correct letter):

takeown /f E:\ /r /d Y
icacls E:\ /grant Administrators:F /t
attrib -s -h -r /s /d E:\*.*

These take ownership, give administrators full rights, and clear hidden/system/read-only flags recursively. After that, refresh Explorer.

If files still don't appear, consider encryption or corruption. Look for EFS (file properties -> Advanced -> "Encrypt contents") or third-party containers (TrueCrypt, PGP). If the filesystem is corrupted, clone the disk first (avoid further writes) and run recovery tools (TestDisk for partition/table repair, PhotoRec/Recuva for file carving). If the drive came from a RAID or was an internal system disk, connecting it directly to a SATA port (instead of USB) can avoid controller quirks and reveal more information.

Caution: whenever data is valuable, make a full image before running repair tools or conversions.

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Member Avatar for hughv

"When plugged into an XP machine it loads as an internal drive - not an external device"
That's not possible, so you're misunderstanding something. What makes you think this is so?
The easiest way might be to connect this drive to the XP machine, share it, then open it on the Vista machine.

Member Avatar for l00pylou

When I plug in the USB external drive, it runs through a loading/installation process.

I have had this with a device before that has come from another machine and still has all the system folders on it.

The Vista machine is a standalone so there are no other machines to network it with and the idea is that the drive is the external storage for the vista machine

Member Avatar for hughv

"Loading/installation? Are you sure that's not just the Autorun feature?
Right-click this drive in My Computer and select "Explore".
You mentioned an XP machine, so I assumed you had two computers available.
You can try exploring from disk management as well.

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