Access denied! how to gain files from an old hard drive?

[owlface]

I have some olds hard drives that I am connected to my labtop to collect files from. Unfortunately, when I click a user name in the documents and settings folder on the old hard drive, it says access denied. How can I get around this?

 

[owlface]

also if it says this, would that mean that the documents are also unsearchable?

 

[RebateMonger]

Taking Ownership - read carefully and follow the instructions exactly.

 

[owlface]

hmmm, the steps listed in that link are unavailable, I don't have a security tab in properties. Also, for some reason the file is displaying 0 bytes?

 

[toadeater]

Did you follow these steps?

"If you are running Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition, you must start the computer in safe mode, and then log on with an account that has Administrative rights to have access to the Security tab.

If you are using Windows XP Professional, you must disable Simple File Sharing."

 

[owlface]

thank you, i didn't see that !