Windows 7: User account "hidden" when trying to retrieve files from another PC

I have been out of the computer repair world for a few years now, and have not dealt with fixing windows 7 PCs much at all. The wifes windows 7 laptop crashed, and I need to reinstall windows. I popped her hard drive out and hooked it up to my computer via an external USB enclosure. The drive comes but her user account appears to be "hidden", I only see a "default" and "public" user account. I know her account is there because their is a lot of used hard drive space that is not accounted for with the folder shown. I somewhat recall this being a security feature way back when when vista was coming out?? I have messed around with the securities, permissions, and ownership of the drive but I still can't see her user account.

Hello PCBliss, and welcome to Seven Forums.

Normally user accounts are not hidden, but you could use the steps in the tutorial below to select Show hidden files, folders, and drives and uncheck Hide protected operating system files box in Folder Options to see if the user folder shows up faded afterwards.

Hidden Files and Folders - Show or Hide

Hope this helps,
Shawn