jawshoouh

my OS bombed and i tried to do a repair off the CD and no-go, so i ended up reinstalling the OS. i had 5 partitions on 3 HDDs that were only accessible to one logon ID from the previous install. i reinstalled the OS with the same workgroup name, but i'm unable to access any of the HDD partitions that were usable by that single ID. they all say "local disk", and when i right-click on them, my only option seems to be to format (as opposed to having a "sharing and security..." selection in the context menu). am i totally screwed here? is all my data lost? is there any program that can work around the xp security and let me reclaim my files?

thanks in advance

beatlesdb

Are you using XP Home or Pro? are you the administrator?
You mention that when you click on the partitions they say "local disk" - that is correct - they are all local disks - can you access the other drive? if your only option is to format the drive - it could be that the drive is currupted.

how did you re-intall windows? did you use the "L" option from the menu which deletes the windows folder and re-intalls the o/s keeping all you other folders.

Did you leave the current file system alone on the drives ie: NTFS - if you chaged them then this would re-format the drives.

Logon ID and network settings don't matter a huge amount at this point - unless you where running encryption on the partitions.

jawshoouh

1) it's XP Pro
2) i set myself up as an administrator, but i've logged on as the administrator, as well (2 separate Admin accts) and i'm still unable to access the other partitions
3) i can access all the partitions that weren't set up with any security settings
4) i reinstalled windows using the L option
5) i left the current system alone (didn't reformat, didn't change from NTFS to anything else, left as-is so i wouldn't have to delete all my folders (so yes, all my program folders from my previously bombed OS are still in c:\program files\...)
6) i wasn't using any 3rd party program for encryption on the other partitions, just Windows XP's sharing/security settings. i had it set up so that workgroup "spilledmilk" and logon ID "jawshoouh" was the only user allowed to access those particular partitions. there were 2 other users on the old bombed-out OS (users "emily the great" and "Administrator").

beatlesdb

OK - what you might be able to do is - right click on the drive in question and in the security options select - advanced - got to the owner tab and add you account in there and select the "Replace owner on subcontainders and objects" this will re-set the permissions.
Even though you re-created the user names, windows allocates every user a security ID which cannot be re-created - doing the above will give you back the rights to manage the folders (hopefully)

Geffy

open the help and support thing and ask it about Encrypted File systems and permissions. Stuff like that. I think there is something in that which might help you out.

---

jawshoouh

ahh, but when i right-click on the selected partitions in question (the ones with the security settings set for 1 user), there isn't even an option to choose "sharing and security...". is there some other way to get to the owner tab, or am i screwed and have to reformat the partitions?

beatlesdb

Damn - I was hoping that it was the folders that you could not use - hang on I will do a check ...

beatlesdb

are the other partitions still using NTFS?

beatlesdb

The only other thing I can think of ....
due to the local security manager in windows giving you a new ID for your local accounts ... you may be able to access the restricted files via the network - if you use the correct user and password - as this will not check the local SAM for an ID.

P.S try checking the drive in the disk manager:
Start - Run - diskmgmt.msc

jawshoouh

ahh the disk manager seems to be working, i can get into the security tab there. weird, i tried it before but got nothin! thanks a lot, beatlesdb, you may have just saved me from losing 120GB of p0rn and mp3s

beatlesdb

No worries dude - you should never mess with a mans Porn hehehe - I do the same with my system - LOL