Access to a Hdd

Tabac

Tabac

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Morning all you clever people. So I have a hard drive from my old desktop, put in a USB enclosure to access my old files. Problem: I'm asked for a login and password which I can't remember. How do I get in ?
 
Boot off something that isn't Windows

chmod 777 -R /path/to/drive

cp /path/to/drive/to/file/needed /home/username/old_crap
 
Resetting Windows Password

http://www.hirensbootcd.org/resetting-windows-password/

Tested on: NT 3.51, NT 4 (all versions and SPs), Windows 2000 (all versions & SPs), Windows XP (all versions, also SP2 and SP3), Windows Server 2003 (all SPs), Windows Vista 32 and 64 bit (SP1 also), Window 7 (all variants). Some also say that it works on Windows Server 2008 too.

If used on users that have EFS encrypted files, and the system is XP or Vista, all encrypted files for that user will be UNREADABLE! and cannot be recovered unless you remember the old password again. If you don’t know if you have encrypted files or not, you most likely don’t have them (except maybe on corporate systems).

Boot your computer with Hiren’s BootCD and follow the steps below for resetting your password:
Click to expand...
 
Thanks Dan, will give it a go. Also found this ? >>

You may need to take ownership of the drive. Look into cacls.exe or try this (XP):

1. right click on the drive that you want to take ownership of (in my computer) and choose properties
2. click on the 'security' tab
3. click the 'advanced' button
4. click the 'Owner' tab
5. under 'change owner to:' select your username
6. check the 'replace owner on subcontainers and objects'
7. click Apply (may take some time)
8. click on the 'Permissions' tab
9. click the 'add' button
10. type 'everyone' for all users to be able to access the drive. Type your user name just for yourself. OK it.
11. click the 'full control' checkbox under 'allow.' OK it.
12. check the 'replace permission entries on all child objects...' checkbox
13. OK it (result may take some time)
14. OK the last window
 
Are you sure hard drive was protected by password?
Stop fooling with this drive, will post in few minutes.
 
sajunky said:
Are you sure hard drive was protected by password?
Stop fooling with this drive, will post in few minutes.
Click to expand...

I'm not fooling with it. It's lying on my table. First want to get all the info from you clever guys. This Hdd was the master, then had a slave aswell. I can access everything on the slave Hdd, but not this one. I can see my folders, Documents, Videos, Pictures, but can't access them. As far as my little knowledge goes, This was the boot hdd, with a windows (XP) login user name and password. (Which I forgot)
 
HunterNW said:
I can access everything on the slave Hdd, but not this one. I can see my folders, Documents, Videos, Pictures, but can't access them. As far as my little knowledge goes, This was the boot hdd, with a windows (XP) login user name and password. (Which I forgot)
Click to expand...
XP user password do not prevent you from accessing files, NTFS permissions, can, but you should check first for correct partition mapping.

Before you apply changes to the hard drive (it happens when you take ownership in Windows), you should compare maximum LBA reported to the system with a maximum LBA printed on the hard drive. Only if there is a match you can continue.

Some USB bridges report lower maximum LBA, it is why you must be careful. If your drive is very old (with old CHS partition mapping) it can be incompatible with USB bridge. In such case you must put it back in the ATA controller and manually define CHS parameters in the BIOS.
 
Last edited:
bekdik said:
Unplug the external drive, then boot up then plug external in. Your machine may be trying to boot off the external drive.
Click to expand...

Yep, done it that way.

sajunky, what is LBA ? I'll check the drive when i get home this afternoon, see what's the partition, etc.
 
HunterNW said:
Yep, done it that way.

sajunky, what is LBA ? I'll check the drive when i get home this afternoon, see what's the partition, etc.
Click to expand...
Basically what he means is plug the hdd back into the sata cable on a desktop and access the data via there as the ext hdd housing may not be reading the partition correctly but seeing you've already been prompted for a password and can view the folders with the hdd in the USB housing I doubt that is the case.
 
I've had this before all you need to do is remove the permissions from the files, it's pretty painless, if I remember correctly you can take ownership with your Admin account even without the original password.
 
airborne said:
I've had this before all you need to do is remove the permissions from the files, it's pretty painless, if I remember correctly you can take ownership with your Admin account even without the original password.
Click to expand...

Yep. Thanks. That's what worked, took ownership of the folders. Done.
 
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