Thinkpads Forum

I need to recover some files that can no longer be accessed in Windows. In Linux, I can see and access these files but I need to copy them to somewhere else since the folder cannot be accessed in Windows, can someone please tell me how to do that?

Actually I haven't yet figured out what was wrong. Here's the story: I had to restore my T43's hard drive to the original factory state. And before that, I had copied some folders from the ThinkPad HDD to an external HDD in order to keep them. Then I found out these folders on the external HDD were no longer accessible after the recovery. When I click on them, it says "the folder is not accessible, access is denied".. I'm logged in as administrator and cacls.exe doesn't help in this case. I've tried cacls "folder name" /c /g "username":f but it still says "access was denied". There's nothing more I can do in Windows. (Is anyone familar with SubInACL?)

In Linux, however, I can access them without any problem. Those files seem to be intact. So is there a way I can recover them? I'm not a linux guy but I always have a linux live CD in case something goes wrong in Windows.

Any clue would be appreciated!!!

yes, modified safely and easily...

what you want is the ntfs-3g driver (rather than the traditional built-in ntfs driver)

e.g. my fstab has this entry
you may have to apt-get install ntfs-3g first, I forget if it is installed by default. but even if you are booting a livecd, you'll be able to do that install if necessary, thanks to unionfs etc.

non-fstab example:

ntfs-3g is how NTFS is written in Linux. It is in Ubuntu Gutsy, the install disk doubles as a live cd.

Anyways, the way I deal with this in Windows is "take ownership". It's buried somewhere in the Security tab (you'll find the Ownership tab if you dig deep enough).

Thanks for the fast replies!!! I'll download the ntfs- 3g driver.

However, I'm still wondering what program has encrypted those folders. I have CSS7 installed and the security chip activated. But I think they only provide me a more secured login method.

I remember seeing the "take ownership" method on Microsoft's support site but when I right click the folder, then properties, I don't see any security tab. There are only 3 tabs "General", "Sharing" and "Customize". Am I missing something?

That's just the way it is on Windows. For some reason when the user of the file is different it results in Access Denied, even if you're Administrator.

I guessing there is a checkmark in Folder Options, that says "Advanced File Sharing" or something. It controls whether the Security tab shows up.

Thanks again aaa!! Problem solved