Windows 7: "Access is Denied"

Sorry if this is not posted in the right forum; first time here myself.

I recently upgraded to a new computer that has Windows 7, and I put my old hard drive from my old computer (which ran on XP) into the new one. Both are SATA hooked, if that matters.

After giving myself all proper permissions and abilities to access the drive (along with "Everyone" having them), I was able to access most music and programs on the drive, however, there are a few note documents that I had for notes for my writing that I'm getting a simple message for; "Access is Denied".

Likewise, I have a few picture files that are giving me a similar message, one that reads the following: Windows Photo Viewer can't open this picture because you don't have the correct permissions to access the file location.



Of course, I'm in the file's folder when I try to do so.

I've taken ownership of the file folder (and pretty much everything else on the drive) as well, to no avail; neither ownership nor permissions have helped.

Any thoughts or help would be appreciated; I really could benefit from these files.

Welcome
Are the old files from XP or earlier, that may be the problem? If this is the case
Right-click the file and go to Properties. Then edit security make yourself the owner of the files. You should be able to access the files.

Yes, the files in question are Notepads or Paints from XP. However, I've made myself the owner of the files, and that hasn't helped this situation (others, it did, these in question, not so much).

If it has anything to do with proper permissions, this adminstrator can get them.
Built-in Administrator Account - Enable or Disable[2]=User Accounts
How to set up permissions
Permissions - Allow or Deny Users and Groups

Hopefully you're not trying to access nor change the permissions on anything under "Documents and Settings." Those folders are no longer used. Look under c:\users instead.