how can i gain full control of files?

jimele · 02 Nov 2014

i have my old hd in an enclosure to use as an external hd, when i restart computer win 7 tries to boot from old hd since it looks at drives in a backwards order.if i unplug external hd all is good. but i can't get control to delete windows from the old c: drive which is now g: drive. has a blue & yellow shield in front of filename. i know that's user account control & i believe my user account is an administrator. can some one help? i'd need step by step instructions too! thanks!

ICIT2LOL · 03 Nov 2014

Hello and welcome jimele mate in the BIOS what order of boot devices do you have set up?? If you have the new drive set then there is something wrong with and that is why it goes looking for another boot source and yes if Windows is still on the old drive of course it will want to boot from it.

So just check in the BIOS first.

If you are plugging in to the external after the system has booted an you plug it in then why not save any data from that drive and them wipe it with the DISKPART clean all command or wipe disk with Partition Wizard both take about the same time to complete. You then have format that drive and then copy the data back to it from wherever you stored it.

Before we get into the nitty gritty stuff let us know what is on that drive besides Windows if it is just data just say data you want we do not need a detailed breakdown of it.

By the by a few more system specs please mate as it is very hard knowing what to advise if we do not know just about everything about your system.
System Info - See Your System Specs

jimele · 03 Nov 2014

i would prefer to stay out of the BIOS as I'm not that good on that stuff. Is there a way to just be able to delete that folder on the old c: drive?

ICIT2LOL · 04 Nov 2014

To be honest th e BIOS is not that easy to mess up all you need to do is pull it up and just check it will stay on its settings as unless you make changes.

But if you want to use something else try this

BOOTABLE UBUNTU

Make a bootableUbuntu disk http://www.ubuntu.com/download

Set the BIOS to boot from the optical when the machine boots it willshow you a screen with TRY or INSTALL >select TRY. You can of course remove the hard drive and anyother drives when doing this as if the optical alone is the only drive left inthe machine then the BIOS will only find the optical to boot from.

When it is finished - it takes very little time you will get a screenlike in the pic .

Open the drive you want > User and dig down until you get to the data/ settings you may be able to copy / paste the material you want to an externalsource or other installed drive doing this.

I am not sure if it will but I have recovered tons of data etc usingthis method both on"dead" or just plain drives that you cannot getdata from using Windows.

N.B. Just for interest you canscan for viruses with the bootable Ubuntu as well - read this article itdetails the process really well and there is a list at the end that gives otherscanners besides Avast

Now in your case you may have to leave the external pluged in and as it does not have any boot capability the machine will look for a boot source.
See my pic for use.

jimele · 07 Nov 2014

when i try to delete windows on the old hd, it goes so far & then " need permission from trusted installer". any way around that?

ICIT2LOL · 08 Nov 2014

Jimele mate if you use the Ubuntu boot disk as described you can just go in and delete the Windows folder while in that OS because booting to Ubuntu does not involve opening up Windows in any shape or form. . You just need to open up the drive in Ubuntu and check what is on the drive find the Window and as I said delete it.
By the way what else do you have on that drive again? If there is nothing of any consequence just wipe and format it

townsbg · 08 Nov 2014

jimele said:

i have my old hd in an enclosure to use as an external hd, when i restart computer win 7 tries to boot from old hd since it looks at drives in a backwards order.if i unplug external hd all is good. but i can't get control to delete windows from the old c: drive which is now g: drive. has a blue & yellow shield in front of filename. i know that's user account control & i believe my user account is an administrator. can some one help? i'd need step by step instructions too! thanks!

This is probably because the bootloader is on the old drive and not on the new. The easiest way to correct this issue is to use the 7 disk and start a repair with the old drive disconnected from the system. There is a program that can run from Windows and manipulate the bootloader but if you don't know what you are doing you can cause more issues.

ICit2lol said:

Jimele mate if you use the Ubuntu boot disk as described you can just go in and delete the Windows folder while in that OS because booting to Ubuntu does not involve opening up Windows in any shape or form. . You just need to open up the drive in Ubuntu and check what is on the drive find the Window and as I said delete it.
By the way what else do you have on that drive again? If there is nothing of any consequence just wipe and format it

It is because of this that I disagree with this. If you system really is using the old boot loader than this will lead to an OS not found error.

ICIT2LOL · 08 Nov 2014

Yes well I was under the impression the OP had 7 installed on the internal drive and was just wanting to get rid of the old Windows on the external and for some reason the new drive is corrupt or the boot order is wrong but anyhow Towns I could be wrong so I shall leave this to whatever you reckon needs to be done.

townsbg · 08 Nov 2014

ICit2lol said:

Yes well I was under the impression the OP had 7 installed on the internal drive and was just wanting to get rid of the old Windows on the external and for some reason the new drive is corrupt or the boot order is wrong but anyhow Towns I could be wrong so I shall leave this to whatever you reckon needs to be done.

Just offering my opinion so why the sarcasm? Lets get this settled. Please right click on computer, select manage, and then select dusk management under storage. Please take a screenshot and upload it. That might help determine what is going on. Also what happens at boot time when the external hard drive isn't connected?

ICIT2LOL · 08 Nov 2014

townsbg said:

ICit2lol said:

Yes well I was under the impression the OP had 7 installed on the internal drive and was just wanting to get rid of the old Windows on the external and for some reason the new drive is corrupt or the boot order is wrong but anyhow Towns I could be wrong so I shall leave this to whatever you reckon needs to be done.

Just offering my opinion so why the sarcasm? Lets get this settled. Please right click on computer, select manage, and then select dusk management under storage. Please take a screenshot and upload it. That might help determine what is going on. Also what happens at boot time when the external hard drive isn't connected?

Look I don't know where you got the impression I was being sarcastic mate and I don't like the inference that I was. I shall PM you as I do not have any intention of spoiling the OP's thread.