Difference between revisions of "Put Hard Drive From Old Computer in New"

Revision as of 22:39, 8 May 2017

Move an Old Hard Drive to a New PC not to use the operating system but as a second drive to have access to your data from the previous computer.

• Access Denied
• User Folder Invisible

quote, "I've powered up the HD and plugged the USB in I can see the folders on my old drive but when attempting to access my USER folder I get the access denied warning."

quote, "How do you migrate data and programs from a dead PC to a new one?"

To Resolve:

1. Enable "view hidden files and folders" in explorer.
2. Enable "Show protected files" in explorer.
3. Follow the steps as given in Working Around TrustedInstaller

User Folders

With Windows XP the "My Documents" folder was located in the user's profile directory, such as ( Documents and Settings\<user name>\My Documents ). The "My Documents" folder was one of the many "Special folders" in Windows. It was not an absolute path but rather a user could change the physical location of "My Documents" by right-clicking on the "My Documents" icon, selecting Properties, and then entering a new folder location in the Target tab.

With Windows Vista Microsoft renamed "My Documents" as simply, "Documents". The "My" prefix was also removed from "My Music", "My Pictures" and "My Videos". These folders were now located directly under the user's profile directory as in (C:\Users\<user name>).

Then with Windows 7 Microsoft took the "Documents", "Pictures", "Music" and "Videos" folders and made them show up in Windows Explorer with a "My" prefix, however, they are actually still stored in the file system without the prefix.

Take Owner of Secondary Drive

1. Click Start , click All programs , and click Accessories .
2. Right-click Command Prompt and click Run as administrator .
3. In Administrator: Command Prompt window,
4. Type "takeown /F (external drive letter)" and press Enter.
5. Type "CACLS (external drive letter) /G Administrator:F" and press Enter.

Folder is not accessible / Access Denied

Even if you are the owner of the HDD, you need to make sure that Authenticated Users is given "Read Folder contents", etc. permissions.

Related Articles

• Copying Files in Microsoft Windows
• Replace Microsoft Notepad With Something Better
• Understanding Microsoft Windows 7 File System Security and Permissions
• Working Around TrustedInstaller

keywords: TrustedInstaller Security Permissions Advanced Full Control Take Ownership Owner access denied not accessible