booting to extra hdd?

[ranchmom5]

I am hoping someone will stop by and read this who has more knowledge than I do.....but then, that wouldn't be asking much!

I put my old hdd running xp into my new machine running W7. I can see all of my files on the old hdd, but cannot access them. It continues to tell me that access is denied...I don't have permissions, etc. I have tried switching permission on the entire drive and on individual files. I go through the process, it says I am the new owner but it still won't let me open a Word doc...Word shuts me out then!

My only thought is to boot into that drive rather than the new W7 drive, get the files I need....like I really need one today...and try removing my password on my desktop. I keep wondering if that is why I can't get access? If this is a good idea, can you please explain how I go about booting into that other hdd and also how to I change it back afterward to boot into the new hdd?

I am totally open to any other suggestions. I have loaded MsOffice and Quicken onto the new hdd but again...no ability to access old files.

Thanks so much!
Sharie

[emeraldgirl08]

Laptop or Desktop?

If it is a laptop you'll either need an Ultrabay HDD adapter or USB external HDD enclosure. If it is a desktop then hook up your old XP drive as an slave drive.

For external USB connections your USB drive should show up as an Hard Disk from which you can extract the information you need.

For desktop IDE or SATA? If IDE, pull and replug the tab so that your drive is setup for slave mode. There should be a diagram on back of your XP drive that tells you how to put the tab in for slave drive mode. If it is a SATA I am not sure. I'm using old school computers now but wait and I'm sure someone can help you out there.

Good luck!

[Neil]

There is usually an option in your BIOS to choose which HDD you want to boot from. Or, there is a choice of boot order. So, boot into the BIOS and look for boot settings, and change the boot order so that your old hard drive is the first boot device. Then restart. This might work, but probably won't because the MBR will "know" that you are trying to boot on different hardware. It will just fail to boot.

To return to the state you have now, just restart, go into BIOS again, and set things back the way they were with the W7 disk as the first boot drive.

It may be W7 that is denying you permission to open files on the old hard drive. Try downloading and burning a "live" Linux CD, and boot from that. I've found that I can open files that way. Of course, Quicken files won't open without Quicken, but Word documents can be opened with an open source word processor like OpenOffice.

Someone, in one of your other threads about this, suggested you copy your old file into a folder on the new W7 drive, and then open them from there. Have you tried doing that?

[dsvochak]

It may be W7 that is denying you permission to open files on the old hard drive

Highly likely, in particular with respect to the Word files. I ran into this over the weekend. I was emailed a number of files created on a machine running XP. Access to the files was blocked on machines running Vista and Win7. When I tried to rename/over-write one of the files permission was denied. I had to copy the files to an XP machine to open them.

No explanation. Apparently it's a feature not a bug.

[ranchmom5]

Tried copying....didn't work. Permission denied.

[mgo]

Tried copying....didn't work. Permission denied.

Try going to this site and read the article and download the .reg hacks. I use this exact technique with very good results in Vista and Windows 7.

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows- ... -in-vista/

[ranchmom5]

Booted into old hdd and it started to open XP...then switched to Safe Mode and froze...so guess that isn't going to work. I had the thought today to totally remove the new hdd running W7 and leave just the old XP drive in. That way I can access my files, burn to a Cd or flash drive, etc. My concern with this is that when I try to move them to the new W7 hdd even off the flashdrive it will still deny access.

Btw, I got a Quicken file to give me access....but now, the Quicken program is giving me a "Com Error" sign every time I try to open a file.

Argh....computers! It is a love/hate relationship for sure!

[emeraldgirl08]

Okay. This is problematic. I have Windows 7 here ready to be put in alongside OpenSuse or Fedora over the weekend. I ordered an extra 40 Gb drive for a desktop to play with.

Does this apply for all files that were created with XP?

Doesn't sound too good!

EDIT:

Okay. You probably tried this and I'm not sure if this scenario would even occur. Have you right-clicked on the file and looked at the files attributes? Meaning- is it checked as Archive or Read-only? And remember if it is checked in Read-only you have to be an administrator to uncheck that and make it archive.

[RealBlackStuff]

IIRC you have a desktop with SATA drives.
Unplug the SATA cable from the W7 hard disk.
You should now be able to boot into your old XP, provided the hardware from your old desktop was the same as your new desktop.
Upon booting, keep pressing the F8 button until you see the boot menu, then select Save Mode.

You said you tried and it froze, but we don't know if the W7 HD was connected at that time.

Anyway, if you get into XP, you may be able to copy your files onto a flashdrive or external USB drive.

[ranchmom5]

Sorry about not addressing the earlier question about my system. Yes, it is a desktop with 2 SATA hdds. One running W7 that came loaded (purchased on Ebay), other from my old computer that had the power supply and/or mobo fried from lightening. I took the old hdd and the Dvd drive out of my old computer and installed in the new one....thanks to my friends here at TPforum giving me the confidence to become a computer tech!

I have to go bale hay right now, but checked to see if there were any replies so I could think about them. I will attempt the unplugging scenario when I get back home. And yes, when I tried to boot up the XP drive, the W7 drive was still plugged in. I simply went to BIOS and changed boot order.

One more thought. In my wanderings trying to find a solution, I did read somewhere a suggestion about deleting all the XP OS files on the old hdd in order for the new hdd to access files without interference. From my limited knowledge, it would seem like a huge job.

Emeraldgirl - I hope someone here can answer your question, because I sure can't!

And I have tried your suggestion and "read only" is not checked. Currently I am the only Administrator on this new hdd, although in XP everyone had Administrator privileges. It seems I have been able to "take ownership" of the MS Office files because I can now open the folders, etc., but now Word is stopping me with the error that access is denied. I still have Office 2003 and that may be the issue? Same with Quicken...I am running Home and Business 2005 and wonder if it has compatibility issues with Vista/W7. I may need to upgrade that software??? Another question I had with Quicken was...could it have loaded wrong because there is already Quicken on the other hdd? I thought about uninstalling it and then reinstalling with the XP hdd connected.

I hope and pray I can find a solution today. You all are great....keep the ideas coming! My dh doesn't know why I think this stuff is fun! (Well, don't tell him, but last night when I worked on it until late after an already long, long day...it was just plain frustrating!):P

[emeraldgirl08]

Does anyone think taking the CMOS battery out would help after she disconnected the W7 drive?

[RealBlackStuff]

Sorry, the CMOS battery has nothing to do with this.
It's only there to save Date, Time and a few other BIOS settings.

Just in case, I don't have any SATA disks in my desktop (but have the connectors), so I don't know if with SATA you still need to select the boot HD, if the 'normal' (W7) HD gets disconnected.
Should be easy to do anyway.

[emeraldgirl08]

Have you tried this???

Compatibility Pack.

Hope it works!!!

EDIT:

Just noticed it doesn't mention anything about W7. Sorry.

[dsvochak]

And I have tried your suggestion and "read only" is not checked.

The situation sounds similar to the one I described: no obvious (or unobvious) reason why Win 7 and/or Vista couldn’t gain access to the doc files. The easiest and quickest solution for me was to go back to the email using and XP machine, save the files after making a minor edit (I added a “#” at the top of each file) and presto, no further difficulty on the Vista/Win 7 machines.

I’m using Quicken 2001 with both Vista and Win 7 so I don’t think Quicken 2005 should be an issue.

Does this apply for all files that were created with XP?

Emphatically, no. I've only had it on 14 .doc files which were created 6 years ago and emailed to me in one email. All other data files haven't been an issue.

[ranchmom5]

Finally got back to working on this. I disconnected the power supply and cable from the new hdd with w7 ,but the hdd with XP still wants to boot into what I guess is safe mode. Everything is huge. I can make the desktop page scroll down enough to click on my name but when the box for my password comes up, nothing will type into it. So basically it is frozen because the mouse doesn't really move either. This is no different than when I booted to the old HDD through BIOS. Is the mobo not compatible with the old hdd? Any thoughts? Oh, and there are 2 fans in this new computer. They come on loud and fast when it first starts and then quiet down. When I try to boot into the old hdd with XP, they don't shut down to the lower, quieter speed.

[ranchmom5]

Hey, hey, hey.....I figured it out! And I have all of you to thank for giving me a place to troubleshoot this and "think" out loud! I had the thought after posting yesterday that it wasn't really booting into SAFE mode but that the graphics were big. I realized that the new computer had an upgraded video card which would mean the XP hdd wouldn't have the correct drivers on it. I connected the monitor to the regular plug and there it was....my XP hdd. I burned all photos to a DVD and backed up all other files to a flashdrive. The only bad thing was that I hadn't backed up my Quicken files the past few times and many hours of work are gone....just gone....zapped away with the lightening! Live and learn! But everything else is working now. After getting everything I needed, I disconnected the XP drive and reconnected the W7 drive. I ran Ccleaner, uninstalled Quicken, cleaned the registry and then re-installed. It is now working fine. Same with Office. I think it was an issue with both hdds connected.

Now I can't decide if I should reconnect the old drive, format it and leave it in for backup storage....or put it back in the other computer and try my hand at getting a new mobo for it and rebuilding.

Again, can't thank you all enough for your help. This is a great place!

[emeraldgirl08]

An expulsion of brain gasses eh???



Glad you figured it out! It really does help to type this stuff out just to process things

I think I've solved a thing or two doing the same thing you did!