On 22 Sep 2005 at 17:28, Diane Kroeckel wrote:

> I had to replace my HD when it crashed.  I have a backup, but can't
> access the owner files.  I had this problem before, but don't have access
> to the file that has the information.
>
> So how do I get access to my owner files on my backup HD?
>
> I'm using WinXP2 on an HP computer.
>
> Thanks.
>
> Diane Kroeckel
> Wheeling, IL

  What are "owner files"?  I don't recognize the term.

  I'm going to guess about the problem anyway:

  Under NT/2K/XP using NTFS, every file/folder has a set of permissions
attached, specifying which user accounts (or groups of accounts) can read
from, write to, modify, or otherwise manipulate the file.  There's also an
account noted as the file's owner; if all other permissions are removed, the
account that owns the file can still modify its permissions to grant access.
 (The file owner needs to give themselves permission if they want to read,
write, etc.)

  When you replaced the hard drive, you probably formatted the new drive and
did a fresh installation of the OS.  So the internal binary account IDs that
are listed as owning your backup files don't exist any more.  (Even if you
create fresh accounts with the same *names*, they will have different
internal IDs.)

  So, there's an extra provision to deal with this sort of problem.  The
Administrator account (actually, any account with Administrator privileges)
can "take ownership" of any file.  [There's no way to "give ownership", so
an administrator can't do this to a user without leaving traces...,]  Having
become the file's owner, you can then assign whatever permissions are
needed.

  So, if you go to the Security tab on your backup folder's properties, and
click on the Advanced button, you should be able to correct the problem IF
I've guessed correctly what you're running into.

David Gillett

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