Hard Drive Security Issues

[Ice breaker]

My old laptop's ps went to **** on me. I took out the hd that the laptop was using and put it in a USB case and hooked it up to my Desktop and now when I try to access my old files on the laptop hard drive it gives me the access denied message. Ive tried googl'in the problem and I keep coming up with the same lame solutions. I don't have a security tab and restarting in safe mode didn't help. Is there any way I can recover my important files/access them off of this hard drive or am I screwed ?

 

[Apokalipse]

Did you log on as "Administrator"?

 

[Ice breaker]

Yes I am logged on as the administrator

 

[Apokalipse]

What OS are you using?
XP Home?

I'm not sure if you can change security permissions in the home edition.

 

[Ice breaker]

Home on both drives

 

[Apokalipse]

Home on both drives

yeah, I think you need Professional edition.