Can't access partition on laptop hard drive

[dslomer64]

Here's where I am:

I just had to reformat my Dell laptop hard drive. Dell DataSafe backup failed miserably. So I'm on my own.

I have a partition L: that the message says IS NOT ACCESSIBLE.

I have changed owner of L: to Me (Administrators (DOV-PC Administrator)), permissions (Me, Full control and all other), and other things. I get SETTING SECURITY INFORMATION popup (once per major change) but still no access. According to L:'s Properties, it's a 300GB drive with only 25GB used.

For some reason, the drive is displayed as L: (V. Not sure why.

Any ideas about how to gain access?

(It's not the end of the world. Before reformatting, I copied (via Ubuntu; thank you Google for warning me how unreliable Dell DataUNsafe backup is) everything I needed, including a few drives such as L:. But it would be convenient to not have to restore 25GB from external hard drive.)

 

[GokAy]

Try changing owner to your user account not the admin group.

 

[RolandJS]

Assuming you have already tried Windows' Disk Management, you can try a 3rd party utility similar to Acronis Disk Director which gives more power to fix partition than Disk Management; there are several very good free and fee utilities.

 

[dslomer64]

Try changing owner to your user account not the admin group.

I already was owner. But that wasn't enough. I had to give myself "Effective Permission" See attached pics for details. But all the files in the root of this partition have locks showing over the folder or file icon.

What's that all about?

Anyway, I seem to be able to access all the files. THANKS for waking me up.

 

[GokAy]

Effective Permissions just shows exactly that, the effective permissions
I have not seen this warning before, and a search didn't reveal much.

Can you post a screenshot of root V please?

 

[dslomer64]

I'm able to open and delete any file or folder. One puzzle is why is drive L: aliased as V:? Or is it the other way around? I don't remember doing this recently or otherwise.

*EDIT*

Oh. If I right-click a file or folder and click Sharing, I find that the lock symbol is on the line saying "Share with nobody". If I click "Share with..." read or read/write, the lock goes away. If I click "Nobody", lock comes back over the folder. As I guess it should.

*EDIT 2*

I noticed that the lock didn't exactly go away immediately. Apparently behind the scenes the sharing is done on each file in the folder. Some folders are huge; hence longer delay.

 

[GokAy]

Oh well, 25GB is not much to restore Just format it and recopy perhaps

Haven't read through all of this, but seems you already done it? Windows 7 Professional 64 is Locking Me Out of my Folders! - Microsoft Community