SOLVED: Unable to Access HardDrive after System Upgrade

[bobross419]

System Specs:

AsRock 775Dual-VSTA
Pentium 4 520
HD2600Pro
1G DDR400 RAM
Antec 380W PSU
WD400 IDE HDD (40GB)
WD800 IDE HDD (80GB)

I recently upgraded everything in my computer except for the hard drives. My previous system was an Athlon Socket A (Or slot A, can't remember which) 1800+ running Windows 2000 SP4. Win2k was installed on the 80GB drive and I used the 40GB for miscellaneous storage, but when I upgraded the system I needed to upgrade to Windows XP. My previous mobo was fried and I didn't have any way to move files around to keep the stuff I wanted, so I decided to just reformat the 40GB drive with a fresh install of XP. After doing this I hooked up the 80GB as a slave so that I can pull off the files that I want to be able to keep, or (preferably) just use it as it is without having to worry about reformatting.

The problem that I"m having is that every time I boot my PC Windows wants to run a ChkDisk on the 80GB drive. I have let the test complete without finding any errors and also booted after skipping the test. Regardless of whether I let the test run or I skip it I receive the following error message when I attempt to access this drive:

"E:\ is not accessible. Access is denied."

I have attempted to access this through double clicking the drive in My Computer, typing "E:\" and "E:\Documents and Settings" into the Windows Explorer address bar, and typing the same into the Run command prompt. I've also gone into the Command prompt and attempted to access this drive with a the "cd E:", "cd E:\", and "cd E:\Program Files" commands. I am logged into the computer as an admin.

On the My Computer screen the 40GB hard drive is showing up with the Drive Name, Type, Total Size, and Free Space, but the 80GB hard drive has blanks for the Total Size and Free Space. When I go into the "E: Local Disk Properties" dialog the General Tab shows the following:

Type: Local Disk
File System: NTFS
Used space: 0 bytes 0 bytes
Free Space: 0 bytes 0 bytes
Capacity: 0 bytes 0 bytes

I went to the Hardware Tab of the "E: Local Disk Properties" dialog and the device status shows that "This device is working properly" and Device Usage is set to "Use this device (enable)".

Does anyone have any ideas as to what I might be able to do to gain access to the files on this computer? I have a feeling that if I format it then everything will be fine, but there are some documents on there that I just can't lose (and I'm dumb and don't keep a backup).

Thanks in advance,
Bob

 

[robisbell]

the IDE/SATA controllers changed, and you must have not prepped for it, and now, the only logical way to get 2K SP4 to operate properly is to wipe and reload.

 

[bobross419]

I don't want 2k to work, I just want to pull the files off of the Hard Drive. And can you explain what you mean when you say the IDE/SATA controllers changed? What can I do to prep for it?

 

[robisbell]

normally you chage the ISE/SATA driver to a generic default before moving the drives to a new motherboard. 2K is a bit iffy on that working, why it was superceded by XP. I'd see if a friend has a external enclosure you can borrow and try accessing the drive that way.

 

[bobross419]

Don't have any friends with external enclosures Newegg has some for really cheap... I guess I could pick one up and see what happens.

 

[Fardringle]

Rob may be right about the drive controller issue, although that usually only matters for the boot drive. Putting the drive in external drive enclosure or another computer would be a good way to test it.


Did you use any type of file/data encryption on your Win2K installation? If so, you'll need to use the same application in Windows XP to access the files on the drive. If not, you may just need to take control of the files and folders on the drive in order to view the contents of the drive.

To do that, follow these steps:
1: Right-click on the E: drive in My Computer or Windows Explorer and select Properties.
2: In the Drive Properties window, click on the Security tab then click on the Advanced button.
3: In the Advanced Security Settings window, click on the Owner tab.
4: In the "Change owner to:" box click on your Windows XP user name.
5: Check the box labeled "Replace owner on subcontainers" and click OK.
6: Click OK to accept any security prompts you are given and to close all open properties windows.

You should now have ownership of all files on the drive and you should be able to access them normally, assuming that they are intact and not encrypted.

 

[bobross419]

Thank you very much for that... but I don't have a security tab

O/S: Windows XP Pro SP3

 

[bobross419]

I've been going through the Disk Properties trying to see if there is even a work around to pull my stuff off. I went into the Disk Properties window then the Tools tab and selected the Backup option.

In the backup tool I was able to Expand the E: drive in the Folder Tree and I was able to expand the folders and sub-folders on this drive. I selected my old My Documents folder and attempted to back this up to a location on my C: drive. The Backup tool ran but had a status of "Completed", a blank "Elapsed" field, and "0 Bytes Processed".

The backup file does exist on my C: drive so I attempted to restore it onto the C: drive, but the same thing happened - Completed and 0 Bytes Processed.

I was unable to find any more up to date drivers that those already installed (Generic Microsoft Drivers I believe) and Western Digital's site is crap for finding drivers.

 

[bobross419]

Another little update,

I attempted to use the E: drive as the primary boot drive, but as Rob suggested previously my computer didn't want to boot into Win2k and moved down the boot path to my C: and Windows XP. I also changed 2 of the Hardware settings in my bios to match the 40GB (I believe I disabled SMART and Enabled 32 bit Transfer) - This did not resolve my issue.

I'll probably just have to wait the 2 weeks for payday and try it again when I have an external enclosure available.

 

[bwatson283]

uninstall SP3...

 

[bobross419]

I don't know how... SP3 doesn't show up in the Add/Remove Programs list

 

[Old Hippie]

Originally posted by: bobross419
I don't know how... SP3 doesn't show up in the Add/Remove Programs list

Then how about system restore?

Never mind. I have no idea what drive you are using now.

 

[bobross419]

SP3 came on the Windows Installation disc that I have...

 

[bobross419]

I know... necroing my own thread, but it is still an issue and I finally got a chance to start working on things again.

I never was able to get my hands on an external hard drive and decided that I would attempt to access these files from outside of the Windows environment.

The first thing I did was go into the Windows Recover Console and I was able to login to the faulty hard drive and see the E:\WINNT folder. I was unable to access any other folders on this drive (IIRC this is by design in WRC), but I received an error message when attempting to copy files over.

I then decided that I might be able to do this in an MS-DOS environment with a boot disk, so I did a google search for MS DOS boot disk and burned one to a CD from here - http://www.allbootdisks.com/download/iso.html . I chose the DOS 6.22 version and was able to successfully boot into MS-DOS, but I didn't have access to either of my hard drives.

Further investigation led me to an MS-DOS boot disc that allows for NTFS drive access - I found a paid version at http://www.bootdisk.com/ and continued to search until I found a free option.

I stumbled upon the "NTFS Reader for DOS" at http://www.ntfs.com/products.htm . With this boot disc I was able to successfully view all of my files on the faulty drive and it does allow for copying of files. The only problem that I hit now is that it won't write to an NTFS drive but it will write to a FAT drive. I have some spare hard drives floating around, so my next step is to format one of these drives with FAT in my current Windows Version (XP SP3) then move the files over using the NTFS Reader. Once the files are on the FAT drive I'll go back into Windows and copy the files over to my main hard drive. Once I've moved all my files over I'll reformat the faulty hard drive into NTFS and move them back. I know it is a lengthy, time consuming process but I have a lot of documents that I want to keep.

I'm still going to continue searching for another NTFS Reader type boot app that I can use to skip that middle hard drive tonight... All of my spare hard drives are in storage ~1 hour away. I wanted to update this in case someone else has this issue and finds this information useful. I'll update again with any new developments.

 

[Navid]

This tells you how to take ownership in XP.
It also explains how you can get the security tab to show.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308421

 

[bobross419]

Originally posted by: Navid
This tells you how to take ownership in XP.
It also explains how you can get the security tab to show.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308421

Excellent! I'll give that a shot when I get home. Thanks so much.

 

[bobross419]

Originally posted by: Navid
This tells you how to take ownership in XP.
It also explains how you can get the security tab to show.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308421

Well, I didn't read the disclaimer in your sig, but I understood it perfectly and wouldn't have held you responsible

You sir are a genius! I went in and disabled simple file sharing which enabled the security tab in the drive properties window. Then I was able to take ownership, upon first entering it looked like I already had ownership of the drive, but I selected the checkbox to take ownership of all subfolders and files then hit Apply. After running through all of the files/folders (~10 minutes) the ownership process finished and I am now able to access my entire old drive.

Thanks Navid, too bad there isn't a karma button on this forum

 

[Navid]

You are welcome.
That is wonderful.
:thumbsup: