Trying to back up an external harddrive

[crazyzer0]

I have recently taken out a 2.5 inch hard drive out of an old vaio laptop. I connected it through the usb as an external harddrive. However, when i try to go into E:\Documents and Settings\username, it says it is not accessible. how do i unlock it so that i can get data off of this? thanks

 

[PC eye]

When going to copy data off of any drive where files are stored under a user name you have to adminstrative access while Windows is running there. One thing to do is copy any personal files into a generally accessible temp folder before removing from the first system for transfer to another. You now need to gain permissions in order to access anything there.

When installing Vista to a second hard drive here administrative permissions had to set in order to access the XP Home folders on the primary drive. And that's with the newer version of Windows. The following is a quick explaination found on a networking site that should help.

"How to adjust security permissions on XP
To access permissions with XP, you can’t use “simple file sharing”; go to Explorer -> Tools -> Folder Options -> View (tab) … and at the bottom of the list un-check “Use simple file sharing (Recommended).
Click the “Advanced” button and for “Everyone” check “Replace permission entries on all child objects with entries shown her that apply to child objects.” http://www.data-based-systems.com/Articles/PHPnotes.htm