Member Avatar for Don A

Hi there, my name is Don & new to the Forum,
I unfortunately suffered the net result of an Operating System malfunction (XP Home ser pack 2 etc).and I am not very impressed, more highly stressed at the moment & I would appreciate any help.
All of a sudden Windows would not run & system kept re-booting with a message that a license was missing for my machine.
On reloading the start-up files supplied by the OEM windows just sits at the welcome screen.
I have obtained a new hard drive & set it up as should be with Windows XP Home Op system as the master & put old drive as slave. I can see all the files on the old hard drive and wish to transfer my old documents but........... when I first set up the first hard drive user accounts I made my documents & settings private. Now I can't access or copy. There are 100's of family photo's & documents that I need to keep. Is there any way I can do the following.
1. Get the old version of windows kick started so I can change the attributes on my documents to allow file transfer..
2. Access my files from new hard-drive for normal use?

thanks to all.
Don

  • 3 Contributors
  • 5 Replies
  • 188 Views
  • 1 Week Discussion Span
  • Latest Post Latest Post by chrisbliss18

Dani AI

Generated

Short summary and where to start — ’s “private” My Documents is almost certainly protected by NTFS permissions (the XP Home “Make this folder private” feature), not by on-disk encryption. Because you said XP Home, full EFS-style encryption is very unlikely (EFS is a Professional feature), so the data itself usually can be recovered — but do the safe thing first: make a complete image of the old drive before changing anything. (flylib.com)

Image the drive (don’t work on the original). Create a bit‑for‑bit image to another disk or external drive, verify the image hash, and if possible use a hardware write‑blocker or trusted imaging tool (Clonezilla, FTK Imager, etc.). That preserves the original and lets you experiment on a copy without making things worse. (computersecuritystudent.com)

If the files are not encrypted, the usual recovery is to take ownership and grant yourself access. In XP Home boot to Safe Mode and log on as the built‑in Administrator; in XP Pro disable Simple File Sharing and use the Security tab. Then: right‑click the user folder → Properties → Security → Advanced → Owner → choose Administrators (or Administrator) and check “Replace owner on subcontainers and objects”; apply, add Administrators with Full Control and copy the files off. That sequence safely restores access for non‑encrypted files. (ftp.zx.net.nz)

If a file is EFS‑encrypted (look for green names or a lock overlay / “Encrypt contents to secure data” in Advanced Attributes), you will need the original EFS certificate/private key or a configured recovery agent; without those the encrypted content is effectively unreadable and may require professional recovery. Don’t run repair tools that write to the old disk until you’ve imaged it. If and suggested recovery tools or trying a read‑only copy, those are reasonable next steps once you’ve imaged the drive and checked for encryption. (flylib.com)

Recommended Answers

All 5 Replies

Member Avatar for J_Search

Don A,

I would forget about trying to fix Windows and try to recover your files. Just use recovery software. I use GETDATABACK, but there are plenty of other options.

J_

Member Avatar for Don A

Don A,

I would forget about trying to fix Windows and try to recover your files. Just use recovery software. I use GETDATABACK, but there are plenty of other options.

J_

Thanks J...PLEASE GIVE ME ANY ADVICE ON OTHER ALTERNATIVES As Microsoft Can't Help & the people from GETBACKDAT (Runtime Software have replied also with negative: & their email is as follows:================================
I am afraid there is nothing you can do with our software to recover any of the data. Private folders are private so that no one, including yourself, can take the drive our of the machine and copy the data with the drive not the booting drive. We do not make software that will fix the OS either as all of our software is read only. Sorry we could not help.
Thank You,
Jody Wilkes
Runtime Software
=============================================
Cheers from Don A

Member Avatar for J_Search

Thanks J...PLEASE GIVE ME ANY ADVICE ON OTHER ALTERNATIVES As Microsoft Can't Help & the people from GETBACKDAT (Runtime Software have replied also with negative: & their email is as follows:================================
I am afraid there is nothing you can do with our software to recover any of the data. Private folders are private so that no one, including yourself, can take the drive our of the machine and copy the data with the drive not the booting drive. We do not make software that will fix the OS either as all of our software is read only. Sorry we could not help.
Thank You,
Jody Wilkes
Runtime Software
=============================================
Cheers from Don A

So, basically they are saying that if your hard drive crashes, you'll be able to recover everything except your private folders? I don't think so.

J_

Member Avatar for Don A

So, basically they are saying that if your hard drive crashes, you'll be able to recover everything except your private folders? I don't think so.

J_

That's right.. I need to get access to "My Documents" under my Log on password hence I am open to all suggestions.

Member Avatar for chrisbliss18

That's right.. I need to get access to "My Documents" under my Log on password hence I am open to all suggestions.

What J is saying is that you will be able to get access to those "private" folders as well. The notion that you won't be able to is bogus. Running the program won't damage anything. Give it a try and see if it retrieves the files you need.

Be a part of the DaniWeb community

We're a friendly, industry-focused community of developers, IT pros, digital marketers, and technology enthusiasts meeting, networking, learning, and sharing knowledge.