ADN

By the way, this is the one that I got, installed it, works great, no complaints, came with a neato two part cable and a case to carry it in...I'm ordering another one right now, for the OTHER laptop HDD that bit the dust to see what I can recover from it...

http://www.directron.com/hd201u2.html

why not just swap em out and use the same enclosure? do you need to have both up at the same tiime?

Of course E, lol...

Now, I know you have a solution for my issue...How can I recover the files that were in my My Documents folder..?

This will be either very easy or very difficult depending on the answer to this question: Did you use the windows ntfs encryption on your previous My Documents folder?

I did not 'encrypt' it, but I did mark them private I think...

In explorer, I cannot even click on the folder, but in a secondary explorer program, I can see the contents fine...

I'm not sure if the private thing encrypts them or not, but I'm guessing it does...

I do have my original Windows folder still on the drive, if I knew where it was I could probably import my old personal key I think, and hope that allows me access...

by marking private, you mean indicating Do not share with other users ? right?

there was also a personal folders, or folder locker thingy released by microsoft not too long ago as a powertoy that used the ntfs encryption. if they are encrypted you are in for some work and need to evaluate the value of the time you will spend getting these back compared to the value of the files. if this secondary explorer program can see the files, the next step is to try and open one. if successful, we get to take easy street!
All you would need to do is take ownership of your old "my documents" folder with your new account. to do this follow these steps:
1. click start->control panel->folder options. On the view tab, near the bottom of the list of options, Uncheck simple file sharing. then click ok.
2. in an explorer window, browse to your previous My Documents folder and right click it and select properties.
3. on the security tab, click advanced near the bottom.
4. go to the owner tab, check the box about child objects, and select your new account name from the list. click apply and wait for it to finish. depending on how many files it may take a bit of time.

let me know if you have any problems

Booya..!

where I come from, "Booya" translates to "Well would you look at that, this looks like it will work". Is this the universal meaning of Booya!?

heh

Indeed it did...I don't know why I didn't think to do that myself...For some reason, I was thinking that it wouldn't work, but I think I was referring to a previous experience where I had encrypted my files rather than just making them private...

Now, things are certainly looking up...Most of the stuff that I lost on ayha.us I had on this drive, and I also go a great bit of stuff that others uploaded on here as well, so I can upload without giving anyone any trouble...

Now, all I have to do is find a reliable satellite, and we will be back in the money...