I have an external drive and it was connected to my window 7 machine. I formatted my PC and put win 7 on it again, but all the folders and files that were created and stored via the previous operating system are inaccessible. It give me a message saying that my permissions are wrong, so i try to change them and it says it has done so successfully, but nothing changes. I tried the HDD with an XP machine and it gives the same problem. whats more confusing is that before the format that caused the problem, the HDD had no problems with permissions when i connected it to other computers. Please help. I've tried all I know.

Hi, OK, I assume that you are not the Owner of these folders or files, so please refer the following steps to take the Ownership. 1. Right-Click the file or folder. 2. Click Advanced, then hit Owner on the tab. 3. Then take the Ownership to you.Please remember to click Mark as Answer on the post that helps you, and to click Unmark as Answer if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.