2nd drive in vista read only and will not unlock 1

[JAES]

I recently installed a fresh installation of Vista Home Premium on a new hard drive. I kept the original drive with all my data (and the original vista installation) as a data drive. No matter what I do, the old files are all read only and I can't modify anything. I have removed the read only status in properties, on the drive and individual files. I even tried to copy them to my new drive with no luck. both drives are SATA formatted NTFS. The new boot drive is D: and the old data drive is C: if that matters.

Thank you in advance. Jeff

 

[linney]

Did you end up with a Dual Boot?

Read Properties is a permanent thing for folders and cannot be easily changed, but for files within folders, then that Attribute can be changed either individually or as a whole by changing the Attributes of the folder and allowing Vista to pass it down the line.

Why can't I remove the read-only flag from a Windows XP or Windows 2000 folder?

http://www.windowsitpro.com/Article/ArticleID/24940/24940.html?Ad=1

Your main problem may be one of Ownership and Permissions, so have a look at these articles.

HOW TO: Take Ownership of a File or Folder in Windows XP (Q308421)

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q308/4/21.asp

Error Message: "Access Is Denied" When You Try to Open NTFS File System Folders

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;Q823306#appliesto

 

[JAES]

Thanks for the information. No, I'm not trying to run dual boot with the drives. I was just moving the operating system and program files to a smaller, faster drive and keeping the large drive for data. I went directly to the file (an access database in this case) and removed the read only attribute to no avail. I'm going to remove the old Vista OS on the data drive probably by moving all data to a third clean drive.

I just now tried disabling the User Account Control and that has let me access and modify the files. I'm going to research this further and see if I can leave this disabled.

Thank you for your assistance. Jeff

 

[linney]

Is disabling Vista's User Account Control wise?

http://www.windowssecrets.com/comp/070308/

This may be adaptable (based on XP) if you want to get rid of the old Vista?

How to remove a second installation of a Windows operating system from a partition

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;888023&FR=1&PA=1&SD=HSCH

 

[JAES]

Thank you, both sites offered good information.