Hard drive password is protected but I need to get files?

Post by **floodhound2** » 16 Mar 2007, 08:29

All right I built a new computer and put Windows on a new hard drive. Then after things were working great I wanted to get some old files out of the old hard drive, so i pluged it in as as slave, then rebooted. I noticed that when I plugged it in I could view some files, however I was not able to gain access to the "My documents" file that is password protected when I had it on my old motherboard. I know the password but obviously this is not going to do me any good because I am using the hard drive as a slave.

Can I get some pictures and files and if so how?

Post by **bad_brain** » 16 Mar 2007, 09:09

hm, how about booting a Linux live distro and copy the files to a USB stick?
I did that a couple of times already, mostly when XP became corrupted and didn't boot any more.
I have already uploaded a couple of mini distros and will add them to the downloads on the next update, but you can download Damn Small Linux directly here.
it's just 50mb and my favorite distro for such issues.

simply boot from CD, go to the mnt directory, mount the HDD/partition (mount hda2 for example), mount the USB stick (usually sda1), and then simply copy the files to the stick with the cp command.

if you need a more detailed instruction let me know...

sternbildchen · Post by **sternbildchen** » 16 Mar 2007, 10:22

Do you used XP Pro Private Key File encyrption?

Post by **floodhound2** » 16 Mar 2007, 10:25

Thanks b_b ill try this when I get home tonight.

No I used a password to log on to the computer so I assume it is windows typical user account password protocol. I guess next time I will disable the password then I can copy files accordingly.

sternbildchen · Post by **sternbildchen** » 16 Mar 2007, 13:06

But you had XP Pro ? Maybe the encryption was activated, then you can only acces the files when you have the key from the user.

Post by **floodhound2** » 16 Mar 2007, 14:02

I am not sure what you are saying, but yes it is XP pro and I am the user that put the password on that hard-drive. I know windows put restrictions on that hard disk because I needed a password to sign on and I know the password. However I don’t want to put it back on the other older main-board and in effect rebuild the older computer just to remove the password. I could but that is a lot of hassle and this is more fun; trying to hack my hard-disk. Essentially I should have copied the data before I did all this new computer part swapping. Lesson learned!

I do think that if I were to use a disk utility program or what B_B mentioned I might be able to remove the files I want from the locked hard-disk, then format it and call it a night.

FrankB · Post by **FrankB** » 17 Mar 2007, 03:22

If you have the Management Console, use a Snap In to become "Administrator" over that disk too.

Start->Run->mmc->New console->new snap-in->local computer\drive->Users&Groups-> etc..

Just a thought.
It should be possible to *map* to the other disk and have the local admin or root admin DRWX permissions. That's the basic idea.