Problem Accessing old Outlook Archives

I recently had a nasty spyware invasion that ended up with me being completely locked out of my operating system (I was not even able to get into the system using boot disks.). Luckily, I had just installed a second hard drive with no data yet recorded. I loaded the recovery cd's (a Sony Vaio setup) on the second hard drive along with a new Spyware Doctor program and some updated anti-virus software. The recovery loaded properly. I reconnected the original hard drive and have been able to migrate all the important data without loss. The only thing left is to access my old identity on the corrupted HD and migrate the bookmarks and Outlook pst files. Whenever I try to open my old profile folder, though, I am denied access. I have tried going through my current identity (It is the same as the original, just on a different HD), the Administrator account in Safe Mode and the old identity as a data file, but I continue to be denied access. I have also tried to import the PST using the Outlook on the new HD, but have experienced the same shut door. Any suggestions?

Thank you.

 

Hello there!

This sounds like a permissions issue:

If it is XP Home- Reboot, tap F8, choose safe mode, log on as the administrator account.
If it is XP Pro- open my computer, go to tools->folder options, view tab, uncheck "use simple file sharing (recommended)".

Then browse to the folder containing the PST file in question, right-click on it, go to properties, choose security tab, click add, type "administrators", hit OK, select "administrators, check "allow" for full control, go to advanced, check "replace permission on child objects", hit apply. Then hit OK twice, and you should be able to access the file normally. If you are asked about "Taking ownership" at any time during this operation, hit "Yes"

If you still get "access is denied, I would recommend a full scandisk of the affected drive.

Let us know how it goes!