Cannot access the User files in older Windows Partition

Question

I have a single hard drive with two partitions - C:(187GB) and D:(30 GB). My laptop came with windows 7 pre-installed on C: drive. Recently something went wrong and the only solution was to reinstall windows again. In order to save my files on C Drive , I installed windows(again 7) on D: drive. My files on C: Drive are still there but I cannot access the C:/Users/ files. I am able to open the folder but when I try to open folders like Desktop, Downloads, Documents, etc. it first prompts that "You don't currently have permission to access the folder and when I continue, it simply doesn't open up the folder with the green line just stretching across the address bar! After a while it says Desktop is not accessible because of an I/O error.

There are really important folders and files in there which I couldn't even backup using live Linux CD because they simply dont appear in there. So guys, do you know what could be the fix??

Please guide.

Answer 1

Right click User dir --> 'Properties' --> 'Security' --> 'Advanced' --> Click 'Owner' Tab and then select your username and click "Change Ownership..." If that doesn't work, you can try using the MS TakeOwn command under an elevated command prompt (Run-as Administrator).