BleepingComputer.com: Please help me recover documents for my HD folder "access denied- this folder is unaccessible"

I have a HD where i have "windows xp" installed that isn't working properly due to shock however i can still turn it on but it only shows up a blank black screen and doesn't go no where. So i had to put it in an external enclosure with my other "windows xp" PC . Doing that I can access folders like "programs" and "windows" and "guest documents" however what i cannot do is try to go inside the owner/admistrator folder because i get the message "access denied- this folder is unaccessible". When i go to "properities" it says it has 0 bytes however when i click on the "hard drive icon" itself it says it does have almost all the 120 GB (and over 48% free space) i have saved on the administrators account. I already tried running it on safe mode but it just restarts over and over and doesn't go through.

So please tell me how can I possibly recover files (only want to recover very important documents only) where windows is installed and I am not getting premission to check the "owner/adminstrators" folder and documents.

These links may interest you:

http://www.le.ac.uk/cc/dsss/docs/acls2.shtml

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308421

Open My Computer
Open the drive in the enclosure
Open Documents & Settings
Open the folder with your user name NOT the "administrator" folder.
Look in My Documents.

I have tried this but still get the message ""access denied- owner folder is unaccessible". So it must be something else. I believe because of shock the owner folder documents are unaccessible but not the others but i am not sure.

Please suggest me on what else I should do?

MadDawg, on Jun 15 2009, 10:51 PM, said:

Hmmm... try what fairjoeblue said if you haven't. You may also want to try to copy the folder over to your computer and try and open it from there. (If the folder's not too big)

Hi, most definetly to late but i'd just like to add for others future reference:

If you have "acccess denied" on a folder that shows 0 bytes you can access it by starting in safe mode:

To do this, reboot the pc. You need to keep tapping f8 when the post screen shows something similar to this picture :



Tap f8 until you are presented with a screen like this:



Select Safe Mode at the top.

Once onto windows go to the folder in question, right click it and select properties. In folder properties, go to the Security tab, then go click Advanced, then go to the Owner tab...Select the user to whom you want to give ownership, then check the box that says something similar to "replace owner on subcontainers and objects".