Files missing from drive in external enclosure

[Trotter]

Here's the run down.

I upgraded my wife's computer yesterday. New mobo, cooler, NVMe. I took the old NVMe and have it in a external enclosure. I have installed Win11 on the new NVMe. I need to pull her files off the old NVMe, which was Win10.

The problem is that the Documents folder in her user profiles says it is empty. It looks like most of the folders on the drive show as empty. The files in her OneDrive folder are there and I have already copied them over, as well as Downloads.

Is there some kind of permission or ownership step that I am missing on this?

@PP Mguire @carnageX Either of you have any thoughts?

Dang but I miss Mak/KSoD in times like this.

 

[pete.i]

I wouldn't think any special permissions are needed unless your wife has encrypted the files in some way such as using Word's folder passwording thing. I do what you have just done all the time, either when I re-install my computers, which I do on a regular basis, or someone elses. I even have a Word encrypted folder which doesn't get lost so really it should be straightforward.

 

[Trotter]

No encryption. I'm just stumped on this one.

 

[PP Mguire]

Try take ownership context menu. Permissions shouldn't keep the files from being seen, but I'm not too familiar with profiles that use a full Onedrive backup.

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/3841-add-take-ownership-context-menu-windows-10-a.html

 

[Joe C]

Why don't you just pop the old drive back into her pc to see if those files show up and if they do, copy them from there. If that does not fly you might have to connect the old mobo to the old drive and see what that does. That would take out any security issues if you use the original drive with the original mobo

 

[Trotter]

Try take ownership context menu. Permissions shouldn't keep the files from being seen, but I'm not too familiar with profiles that use a full Onedrive backup.

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/3841-add-take-ownership-context-menu-windows-10-a.html

I thought I had already taken ownership, but I will double check.

Why don't you just pop the old drive back into her pc to see if those files show up and if they do, copy them from there. If that does not fly you might have to connect the old mobo to the old drive and see what that does. That would take out any security issues if you use the original drive with the original mobo

The new mobo only has one NVMe slot, as does the old. I am hesitant to put it back into the old mobo as I will have to transplant the CPU as well.

 

[tehnokraat]

@Trotter
1. you can always use an external so-called External SSD Enclosure M.2 NVME USB C 3.1 - they are available at different prices, usually €/$30-$40
2. Don't use automatic file saving to OneDrive, which usually deletes files from your computer
3. always make a copy/backup of important files and do it manually, then nothing gets lost, never use OneDrive autobackup.
4. if you have a home computer with a single user and you still decide to encrypt it, make sure that you always have all the necessary data to back it up outside the Internet or outside of the same computer.
5. Never store important data on the same disk as the OS, not even on a different partition.
6. Encrypt your hard drive only if absolutely necessary, including Bitlocker, only use if absolutely necessary. This means only in a situation where there is a high probability that someone will get them from there.

Here is what I use.

 

 

[Joe C]

I thought I had already taken ownership, but I will double check.


The new mobo only has one NVMe slot, as does the old. I am hesitant to put it back into the old mobo as I will have to transplant the CPU as well.

Try looking at this drive with a *nix version. Ultimate Boot Disk has Parted Magic built in but I'm sure you'll know of something you may be more familiar with.

 

[PP Mguire]

I thought I had already taken ownership, but I will double check.


The new mobo only has one NVMe slot, as does the old. I am hesitant to put it back into the old mobo as I will have to transplant the CPU as well.

Context menu option is a one click you own it all. If that doesn't work then I'd use Linux.

 

[Joe C]

Context menu option is a one click you own it all. If that doesn't work then I'd use Linux.

I must add, that with the standard SSD I just remove the Windows drive running windows and put the old drive in it's place. Like I stated I use Partition Magic and booting from that I can access other drives, Sata, Pata or SSD's. I admit I have never as of yet attempted to access an NVMe using Partition Magic, So I'm not sure if it has the native drivers to access.