I had a computer that I once used to run my business AND as a family computer (over 10 years ago) When I upgraded, I simply switched out without recovering all of the files. Being in a rush, I only copied over my business files and just left the others for "later." Well... time got away from me and it was over a year later when I thought to transfer the files. The problem? I apparently forgot the password by the time I got around to it. I figured the password would "come back to me" and I'd try again later... BUT... life got in the way and I hadn't even thought of it for YEARS. Today I was cleaning out a closet and there is the old computer, reminding me that there are pictures and other documents on there that I'd really like to have back.

I had heard years ago that there was some sort of utility that can be bought to recover those files and/or unlock the hard drive. I trust the members of this community more than any other... so I thought I'd ask for advise on computers from a gun forum.

Thanks in advance.

Maybe Hirens Boot cd or try one of these methods. https://www.geckoandfly.com/40...ssword-removal-tool/

Try using the drive as a USB drive. Then access the drive as a spare drive and if you know the location of the files you need, you should be able to access them. Depending on what kind of drive you have you will need one of these. I hope this helps. God Bless

quote:

Originally posted by triggertreat:
Maybe Hirens Boot cd or try one of these methods. https://www.geckoandfly.com/40...ssword-removal-tool/

Hirens Boot cd, YES! That is the one I remember being told about. Thanks.

quote:

Originally posted by VBVAGUY:
Try using the drive as a USB drive. Then access the drive as a spare drive and if you know the location of the files you need, you should be able to access them. Depending on what kind of drive you have you will need one of these. I hope this helps. God Bless
*** snip ***

So... if I'm running it direct like that it no longer requires a password? If that's the case this seems like an easy (too easy maybe?) option.

The computer's access password only stops you from operating the computer. If you pull the drive and attach the above dongle to it, you can plug it into any computer and access everything that wasn't encrypted.

If the password you lost is the one for the computer taking the hard drive out and using a cable like above should work.I was going with your words "unlock the hard drive" meaning you locked or encrypted the hard drive. Either way Hirens should give you a fighting chance depending on Operating System.

Awesome! Yes, it was the password for the computer. Sorry about the misleading title, I'm pretty computer hardware illiterate. I'm decent at running a host of software, but hardware stuff and ESPECIALLY network stuff gives me fits.

Just an added note. If you have a hard drive that "crashed" via a read/write failure in the boot sector attaching the drive with one these dongles can quite often allow you to access most of the files on the drive. BTW, a primary symptom in the boot sector is a drive that will not boot up properly. Have done this two times so far and it worked quite well.

One other thing that occurred to me is that 5 1/4 hard drives require a 12 V power source and USB only has 5 V. What I have is a IDE/SATA to USB 3.0 adapter that is a bit clumsier to hook up because the power supply provided has both 5 and 12 Volts ported to the power plug. Link to the exact unit I have follows and yes it will read both SATA and IDE hard drives.

https://www.amazon.com/Vantec-...225-U3/dp/B01E7EPKUO

If you're not talking about encryption, just hook up the drive via USB as was suggested or put it in another computer, and copy the files you need.

Numerous bootable thumbdrive/cd options exist to Boot, Mount the Drive, and Copy/etc.

Or, just put the old drive in another computer as the Z: drive or E: or whatever and do it via Windows/etc.

I wouldn't spend a dime, myself.