Cannot Acess Folder on Externally Mounted HD

Question

I'm running Windows 7 64-bit, and I've mounted my previous computer's Vista 32-bit hard drive through an external enclosure so that I can access my files on my new computer. I can access every part of the drive except my old User folder (C:/Users/John).

When I attempt to access it, it prompts me for the administrator password (which it didn't need for any other part of the drive) and then loads infinitely.

Letting it load doesn't seem to do anything. The harddrive is constantly working but nothing is happening. I find it extremely strange that it's just the E:/Users/John folder I can't access, but it doesn't even work when I run as Administrator.

Any help?

Answer 1

The problem here is that the drive is formatted as NTFS, which supports permissions, and your user account is locked down to PreviousVistaMachine\john, which is NOT going to be the same SID as NewWindows7Machine\john, so it's rightfully telling you "Access Denied".

To fix it:

1. Click on the folder, right click it and choose properties.
2. Click Security.
3. Click Advanced.
4. Click the Owner tab.
5. Click Edit.
6. Click your name.
7. Check the "Replace owner on subcontainers and objects".
8. Click Ok.

After that, you might still need to go into the security tab and grant yourself rights to the folder - but try it first and see.

Good luck!