cannot access file on external hard drive

I was using Windows XP desktop since a long time. Recently the motherboard of this desktop got failed as it was very old. So instead of replacing motherboard I thought to buy a new computer itself and bought one. As there were a huge number of data on my old Hard drive, I pulled it out and connected it as an External drive on my new computer. There were 3 user accounts on this old HDD, one is mine which is password protected and rests two are non-password protected.

Now the problem I’m facing is when I try to access the files from this old HDD on new system, it is not allowing me open non password protected files. I thought this could be some security feature of XP. So I tried accessing folders from my own account which was password protected. Though the folder opens fine but it is showing up that the folder is completely empty. Now what is this?

Somebody please let me know what is the problem and how can I fix it. I know that folder is not empty, infact it contain several important documents. Please help.

In order to access files from any other Hard Drive which is already having a windows installed on it, you will first need to disable Simple File Sharing and take ownership of the files. The process is bit lengthy but very simple. Just go through the steps provided in this Microsoft KBs:

• "Access is Denied" Error Message When You Try to Open a Folder http://support.microsoft.com/kb/810881
• How to take ownership of a file or folder in Windows XP http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;308421