How can I get read access to *all* files on my harddisk?

0

Recently I had a full harddisk and needed to delete some files. I used WinDirStat to see where the big files are.

Afterwards I remembered that I had a 5GB Microsoft SQL Server database backup restored in my local SQL Server instance. However, the data directory of SQL Server did not show up in WinDirStat, even though it used 6GB of disk space.

Is there some way to list all directory sizes, like in WinDirStat, but all of them? If there is some directory I don't have access to, I want to get a warning like

The size of directory XY could not be determined since you lack permission to access it.

If I get that warning, I can go to Windows Explorer and get those rights.

Is there some way to get access to all the folders and files on my harddisk?

cheesus says stop firing mods

Posted 2017-10-11T08:45:39.053

Reputation: 1 106

Question was closed 2017-10-12T14:42:58.967

2Did you run WinDirStat as administrator? You could also try TreeSize instead. – SpiderPig – 2017-10-11T09:01:17.760

You can take ownership of the whole drive using takeown or icacls`. See my answer How would I use Takeown to take ownership of all folders on one drive?

– DavidPostill – 2017-10-11T10:56:51.447

Answers

-1

Please try suggestions in this guide to find the file bigger than the size you define: https://winaero.com/blog/find-large-files-windows-10/

Kattee Lee

Posted 2017-10-11T08:45:39.053

Reputation: 511

Please share relevant details of the article so the answer exists on SU even if the link breaks. – Damon – 2017-10-12T03:41:57.877

Asked: 2017-10-11T08:45:39.053

Viewed: 135 times

Active: 2017-10-12T03:01:50.027