In this tutorial we will look at how to access files or folders when connecting an external hard drive from another computer or a stand alone hard drive, and deal with any Ownership/Permissions errors. This could be a USB memory stick, memory card from your camera or an entire hard drive where you wish to access the data held within it but are getting a permissions error or no files are showing, yet you know they are there.
Note: If you are connecting a secondary hard drive to a working computer in order to access files and folders (pictures, music etc), then this tutorial assumes that the hard drive on the working computer is formatted as NTFS. Please note that an NTFS formatted drive can read FAT32 formatted drives, but a FAT32 drive cannot read a NTFS formatted drive (unless they are networked, in which case the system format isn't important)
Firstly, if you are wishing to connect a hard drive from another computer to yours, then there is couple of ways to do this. If this is a stand alone external hard disk with USB input, then simply plug it in to the back USB ports of your desktop and the device will show itself in My Computer. The reason for using the USB ports at the back is that they are connected directly to the motherboard and not via a separate USB card inside the desktop. If you are connecting it to your laptop, then any of the USB ports will do.
If the device you are attaching is a standard hard drive (IDE or SATA) then you can either connect it directly to your computer by opening up the side of your computer and should you have a spare SATA data cable and power adapter cable then just plug it in and reboot. If it is a IDE, then again make sure you have the IDE power cable and IDE data cable and set it to Slave. You will see how to set it to Slave on the back of the hard drive itself or consult the manufactures website/ manual. Please note that in the pictures of the IDE data cable, the motherboard connector is red. Most are actually blue in colour. The IDE power connector end should already be present in your desktop as it should be attached to the PSU (spare one)
A much simpler way to do this though, is to purchase a hard drive enclosure or a USB to SATA/IDE Adapter with a Power adapter which is what I use as it can connect 2.5″/ 3.5″ HDDs be they IDE or SATA. It only cost £17.99 ($29.00) and is an invaluable piece of kit. Here are some links should you wish to purchase any, but note that the links may change over time, but a simple look on Amazon or Newegg will find it for you:
- USB 2.0 To SATA/IDE Adapter with Power Lead (Good for all sizes and types)
- 2.5″ Hard drive enclosure (laptop size IDE hard drives)
- 2.5″ Hard drive enclosure (laptop size SATA hard drives)
- 3.5″ Hard Drive enclosure (Standard size internal hard drives)
Once you have connected your device, you will next need to Take Ownership of it. Please note that sometimes you may not have to do this and can access all the files and folder within. If you are unable to access certain files, you will get a permissions error or the files that you know are there seem to be hidden. There are two ways to get around this. Firstly , if you try to access a certain folder/file you might get the error message below:-
You can click Continue and let Windows grant access to that particular folder which will give you access, but it might not grant access to all files and folders as well on the hard drive. To do this you must change the ownership of the drive to yourself. Plug in or connect your drive and then locate it via My Computer. Right click on the drive and select Properties which will show the following window:
Now click on the Security tab and then on the Advanced button at the bottom:
The Advanced Security Settings window for the drive in question will now show:
Now click on the Owner tab and click on Edit as shown in the image below:
Depending on how many user accounts you have on your computer, you will now want to select the user that will be the new owner of the device. Check the Replace owner on subcontainers and objects box and hit Apply. A Windows Security window will pop up, just click Yes.
Windows will now start the process of changing ownership of the files and folders on the drive:
Once the process has finished you will see the following message:
That's it. You should now be able to see and access all of the files on the drive that you wish to save or use. In the example shown, the drive belonged to a friend, whose motherboard had died, and needed to save personal files like family photos.
Note: This was done using Windows 7 Ultimate, but the procedure is very much the same in XP and Vista. If you have any questions, please ask me "+91 99628 79268" or srajasimman@gmail.com
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