external hard drive issues

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twotravelbugs

27 posts

Geek

#19631 24-Feb-2008 15:50

Our last computer crashed, we bought a new one. We kept the hard drive from the old one and got a box etc for it. Our new computer runs Vista, the old one Windows XP home. We plugged in the old hard drive, but cant access the files. The list of everyone on it comes up ok, but whenever we try and open something it tells us we cant as we dont have permissions. We went to properties > security > advanced > owner > changed the owner to the name we are logged on under, ticked the replace owner of subcontainers etc box then hit ok. It did its stuff, took a while, but we still cant access anything. Whats happening? We do have a back up of all the files, so thats not a huge issue. But we'd like to be able to clear the drive so we can use it as extra storage with this new pc. What do we do next?
Thanks from some total non-geeks...clueless and frustrated

. All help much appreciated!

dnb4life

312 posts

Ultimate Geek
Inactive user

#112716 24-Feb-2008 16:27

if you have all of it backed up and all you wana do is clear it to use as storage why not right click on it in my computer and format it? that should fix the permission issues you've been having.

twotravelbugs

27 posts

Geek

#112730 24-Feb-2008 16:54

I'll try that. Hope it works in Vista, when I find what they now call my computer. then how to reformat it.

Thanks for taking the time to reply.

freitasm

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#112738 24-Feb-2008 17:43

It sounds like you want to access the files, right? In this case do not reformat the drive yet - unless you just want to use the drive.

Are you logged in as an Administrator user in your Windows XP box? You need to be an Administrator to claim file ownership.

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twotravelbugs

27 posts

Geek

#112740 24-Feb-2008 17:50

I'm using Vista. The hard drive came from a computer using Windows XP. Is this an issue? There is only one log in name, as far as I believe, which is the one I set up when starting using this computer. Its called something else (our names) but is an administrator. When changing ownership, I have the option of administrator or [our names], but I thought thet we were administrators... maybe I'll try again with the other option... unless someone has another suggestion?!
Thanks.

Oh, if I claim ownership as administrator, can I still access these files when logged in as the only thing I can log myself in as? I am getting confused here.

dnb4life

312 posts

Ultimate Geek
Inactive user

#112813 25-Feb-2008 03:17

twotravelbugs: We do have a back up of all the files, so thats not a huge issue. But we'd like to be able to clear the drive so we can use it as extra storage with this new pc. What do we do next?

if i understand you correctly, you want to clear the drive to use for your new pc? to format it you don't need to access the drive, you just need to right click on it in the "computer" screen. this should in turn erase those permission problems and leave it completely blank for storage, it also garantees no viruses or data will be left on the hard drive - thats why you shouldn't delete everything manually. if i'm wrong freitasm please sing out.