Member Avatar for rastechnologies

Hi all.. I'm facing a problem with my Laptop Hardisd, My laptop got crashed so i removed the harddisk from laptop and i fixed into a USB case, to acess my data's,

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Several different problems can present as "Access denied" after pulling a laptop disk into a USB enclosure: (a) NTFS ACL/ownership left tied to the old Windows account, (b) file-system encryption (EFS or BitLocker), (c) an ATA/BIOS drive password or security flag that the USB bridge doesn't pass through, or (d) a failing/incorrectly-mounted partition. The thread contains duplicate posts from / ; the useful suggestions were from (take ownership) and (use Linux). The items below expand those ideas and add safe recovery-first steps.

First, identify which situation is present. If the partition mounts and files are visible but produce "Access denied", this is usually ownership/ACL or EFS. If the partition does not mount, shows 0 bytes, or the enclosure prompts for a drive password, it may be a hardware/ATA lock or an enclosure issue.

If permissions are the problem, ownership and ACLs can be reset. Example Windows commands (run from an elevated prompt):

takeown /F X:\ /R /D Y
icacls X:\ /grant Administrators:F /T

Alternatively use Explorer -> Properties -> Security -> Advanced -> Owner and assign to Administrators or the current account. Note: EFS-encrypted files will still be inaccessible after changing ownership because they require the original certificate/profile.

If the drive seems "locked" at the device level, remove it from the USB enclosure and connect it directly to a SATA port on a desktop (many USB bridges do not pass ATA security). From a Linux live USB the following reveals security status (example):

sudo hdparm -I /dev/sdX | grep -i security

If an ATA password is present and known, hdparm --security-unlock and --security-disable can remove it, but these commands are risky and must be used only with the correct password; incorrect use can permanently block the disk.

Always image the disk before risky operations. Example with ddrescue:

sudo ddrescue -f -n /dev/sdX /path/to/image.img /path/to/logfile.log

If the files are critical and none of the safe diagnostics above work, professional data-recovery services are strongly recommended rather than repeated write attempts.

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Member Avatar for jasminehensley

Hi all.. I'm facing a problem with my Laptop Hardisd, My laptop got crashed so i removed the harddisk from laptop and i fixed into a USB case, to acess my data's,

i think im having the same problem, but im not sure cuz you didn't finish your sentance...

Member Avatar for Athar hameed

Hi all.. I'm facing a problem with my Laptop Hard drive, My laptop got crashed so i removed the harddisk from laptop and i fixed into a USB case, to acess my data's, but says access denied, how to remove password, please help..Thanks Hameed

Member Avatar for Krazer

Hi, What was yuor solution for removing the password from your laptop HDrive ?

Member Avatar for Nezam79

Hi all.. I'm facing a problem with my Laptop Hardisd, My laptop got crashed so i removed the harddisk from laptop and i fixed into a USB case, to acess my data's,

Member Avatar for caperjack

Hi all.. I'm facing a problem with my Laptop Hardisd, My laptop got crashed so i removed the harddisk from laptop and i fixed into a USB case, to acess my data's,

so what seems to be the problem,

Member Avatar for rch1231

This is a guess but I bet your problem is you cannot access the data on the drive now in the USB..You don't have permission. If so what you need to do is take owner ship of the folders and subfolders.

Take a look at this Microsoft tech tip on how to take ownership of files and folders.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308421

Member Avatar for cwarn23

This is a guess but I bet your problem is you cannot access the data on the drive now in the USB..You don't have permission. If so what you need to do is take owner ship of the folders and subfolders.

Take a look at this Microsoft tech tip on how to take ownership of files and folders.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308421

Yes or you could just delete all of the contents of the drive with a Linux utility called gparted.

Member Avatar for caperjack

i just realized that nazam79's post is an exact copy of the first post from 2007 ,so we all know what that means .wast of time for us

commented: Thanks for pointing that out :) +12
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