Windows 7: how to access Docs & Settings on failed drive

My C Drive failed last week, I was able to restore a recent Windows Image Backup on a new drive. When I connect the failed drive, the Documents & Settings directory is locked out. Is is possible to "unlock" that directory.

Thanx in advance.

Hi Mikeh,

I don't know what do you mean by "locked out"? Few weeks ago I have had a crash in which the HD could not be anymore recognized. I used a program called (GetDataBack Data Recovery) (GetDataBack Data Recovery - Free software downloads and software reviews - CNET Download.com) which helps me to get back lots of my data. Of course there are some data which is completely corrupt by the crash and could not be recovered but it was not really that much.

There is another freeware program called (Pandora Recovery) (Pandora Recovery - Free software downloads and software reviews - CNET Download.com) which you can try. Both program's are not running on Windows 7! So you should take the HD and connected to a computer which is running on Win XP or Vista.

Hope this will help.

Anne

In Windows Explorer, the Documents & Settings directory on the bad HDD has a small padlock on the folder icon, when I click on it it tells me it's not accessible, access denied.

Hi Mileh and welcome to the forum. Check out the link below re:Take Ownership.
This may help you access those folders. Let us know.

Take Ownership Shortcut
Regards
JohnnyA

It took forever to boot up with the partially failed drive as a secondary, now it sees two "local drives" that if you click on either, Explorer freezes up. I tried the Command Prompt with the Sys Repair disc, D: was the System Reserved Part. , dir E: just froze the command window. I also got a message on shutdown that NTOSKRNL.EXE has changed since last time and wants to access the Internet. I'm thinking, Oh No!

Looks like the failed drive has failed completely. I'll keep trying, but fortunately it has nothing that's worth $$$$ to recover.

One thing for sure, Windows Image Backup/Restore works just fine! I did a backup just before SP1 in February, and was able to restore it. The only thing that was strange was Windows Time Server service didn't start automatically, and MS Outlook 2003 didn't work until I reinstalled SP1.

@johnnya, thanx for the Take Ownership link, it might just come in handy one day.

Download *MBRFix.exe*

MBR Fix - Fix MBR problems

to your User folder
- Boot the machine
- Start | All Programs | Accessories-
- Right-click on *Command Prompt*
- Choose -"Run as administrator"-
- Choose -"Allow"- from the UAC popup box (if UAC is enabled)
- At the *C:\Users\your name\ prompt,

type

MBRFix /drive {drive number} fixmbr /yes


- Repeat the command for however many drives are infected/write
protected

( "Infected" because some AV programs also prevent access).

Regards....Mike Connor

The drive is getting I/O errors with MBRFix fixmbr, guess it's dust.

Thanx for all the help anyways

Was the old drive running Windows XP? Otherwise ignore Documents and Settings, go to Users directory.