Hey guys, I'm new to this threat...I apologize in advance if this problem was already explained...anyway, I had a Seagate 160GB barracuda and basically I was playing HL2 and it crashed and ever since, I log into my windows, it's slow (takes 5 min to bring up the start menu when you click the button)...other than that, the desktop is just 'there' and nonfunctional...I can't even open control panel...

therefore, I borrowed my friend's extra harddrive and put a fresh WIN XP on it so that I can make my broken harddrive as a slave and just grab files, back them up. HOWEVER, I kept most of my files in my "My Documents" folder and as most of you know that it brings up a "Access Denied" type message when you try to go to "Documents and Settings" then to your "account name" folder... I figured if somehow I can tweak some settings within the OS in the broken harddrive, I can make it work...but is there a way to do that within my fresh harddrive?

I have so many important files and hate myself for saving so many in the "My Documents" folder...any help would be so much appreciated, thanks a lot!

If I understand your situation correctly, I think you'll find your solution in using Windows Explorer. The problem is that XP is not letting you into those files because of ownership issues. To change access permissions, right-click on the folder or file you want to access and choose 'Sharing and Security...'. There you'll see a list of the users who have access to that resource and what kind of access they're allowed. Make any changes you need to and you should be out of trouble. Be warned that it may take a reboot after the changes in order for it to allow access.

<font color=green>****</font color=green> Never Assume <font color=red>ANYTHING</font color=red> <font color=green>****</font color=green>

Yeah, that's what I did and I added my log in name and everything but I still wasn't able to access the folder...maybe it's cuz it's a different harddrive or whatever...but either way, I solved my problem by turning the comp on safe mode...so I'm able to just use the newly bought harddrive as a backup so I run the older harddrive on safe mode and just click and drag to the new harddrive...it works just fine...thanks for your help anyway, I really appreciated.