My old lappy had a motherboard problem so I just got a new machine . I put the old lappy drive in a USB case and my new lappy can see the file structure.

My document folders are empty but they are there. When attempting to open it says "drive inaccessible, access denied." I've tried enabling file sharing like my google search indicated to do but that doesn't work.

All I want is to get my documents off the old lappy. All the data recovery programs I've downloaded either produce the same error message or prompt me to upgrade to their pro version.

Thanks for your help!

I will refer you to the following article from Microsoft regarding this issue:

How to take ownership of a file or folder in Windows XP

I have assumed that your new machine has XP - if it is running something else, please correct me.

As long as you are able to log on with an account with Administrative privileges, you will be able to replace the current access restrictions on the folder and/or files within.

If this does not solve your problem then the solution is a little more tricky. Let me know if that is of any use and if not, I will try and find out what the problem is - the majority of problems such as yours can be solved in this way, though I am assuming that it is purely a Windows permissions error and nothing more sinister.

John

Yeah. I already tried that!

So I tried it again.

And again.

And now it's fixed.

The error is always between the keyboard and the chair.

Thank you for your help!