Ever had Windows XP crash? And worse comes to worse you had to reformat your PC and you need to back up your data? The BIG problem is: you can't access your folders! Well, here's a workaround I've gathered around the net (that is yet to be personally tested). It is however assumed that you haven't encrypted (i.e. files with green filenames) your files. That is "irreversible" and thus cannot be recovered.
1. Use your drive as a slave drive in another computer. The master should have a Windows XP installed and the user logged on must have administrator rights. Let's say your data drive is D: while your system drive is C:.
2. Open your trusty command prompt and type the following:
cacls [FOLDER or FILENAME] /E /P [USERNAME]:F
where: FOLDER or FILENAME = the name of folder or filename to gain access to
USERNAME = the currently logged-in user's Windows XP account name
CALCS is the command to display or modify access control lists (ACLs) of files.
/E Edit ACL instead of replacing it.
/P user:perm Replace specified user's access rights.
Perm can be: N None
R Read
W Write
C Change (write)
F Full control
3. To restore the ACL for that folder/file:
cacls [FOLDER or FILENAME] /E /R [USERNAME]