I recently reformatted my computer and did nothing to an external HD which is an NTFS that had permissions set for the computer. I just recently noticed I was unable to copy certain files from the external harddrive. Music files to be exact, and I wanted to copy them from one location to the next. I checked the permissions on the harddrive and I noticed something strange there are two Groups/usernames under security called S-1-5-21-1757981266-1078145449-725345543-1003 and S-1-5-21-1757981266-1078145449-725345543-500.
Also even though I am logged on under the only account I have on this computer with is admin I cannot change any of the permissions all boxes are greyed out.

Are these music files ones that were downloaded from a music store like iTunes? The DRM accompanying the files places restricitions on what is allowed.

Don't most externals come pre-formatted as FAT32? I don't understand why people format their externals using NTFS? The only possible benefit/reason that I can see would be storing files larger than 4GB, otherwise, FAT32 is the way to go.

jam

FAT32 has limitation on the total number of files that can be saved in a folder. This can lead to issues. I can attest to this. I had a 320GB FAT32 with about 160Gb of files on it. None of the Windows disk tools would work with the drive because of the total number of files on the drive. I could access the files, although some needed to deleted due to CRC errors. Ended up moving some files off and reformatting NTFS.

IMO the only reason the manufacturers pre-format FAT32 is for better compatibility.

When external drives first appeared they were smaller and MY belief is the manufacturers thought the primary use would be to move the drives between computers for the purpose of transferring files. As it turns out, the most common use is to expand desktop capacity. If the unit never moves NTSF may be a better choice with these huge drives.

I don't have an external HDD, but I do have all my internal drives formatted as FAT32. I use the HDD manufacturer's software to bypass the false 137GB limit imposed by M$ & I reduce the cluster size.

http://cquirke.mvps.org/ntfs.htm

There music files were not from iTunes they were just regular mp3 files so there is no problem with that in fat because my harddrive was an NTFS and had screwed up permissions befor I reformatted my computer, every file in there is screwed up in some way in regards to its permissions. Is there some type of recovery software i can use that will forcefully copy the files and disregard the messed up permissions that I cannot change or alter at all.

Possible that you may need to take ownership of the files then. To do that look at the link below.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308421

Not really a hardware question... But.....Those numbers are sids for other accounts that must have existed at one time and are not currently recognized.

For example. You have a computer connected to a Domain. Under Local Admin Group is the Domain Administrators Group. If you then disconnect the computer from the network and login locally, that Group is no longer recognized. In that case, only the SID will show.

So, you need to take ownership of the files on the External drive. Unfortunately with a Fat32 OS, you can't do that. You'll need to convert the Fat32 OS to NTFS. You can then take Ownership and have full access to the files.

Life's more painless for the brainless.

Worked, thank you

You're welcome. Thanks for posting back.

Life's more painless for the brainless.