NTFS security question

CF93 · 13 Mar 2007 at 11:35

Are the sucurity features on files stored in NTFS actually added to the file or are they stored as part of the NTFS file system?

Basically, if I were to copy some files from an NTFS drive onto a FAT32 drive then later back to an NTFS drive, would the original security features (which users have access to the files etc) be on the new NTFS drive, or would they be lost when copying to the FAT32 drive?

Ta.

Dangerous · 13 Mar 2007 at 11:46

I think they would be lost on the copy to be honest.

Azraeluk · 13 Mar 2007 at 12:24

Soon as you copy a file from NTFS to FAT32 the permissions are lost.

CF93 · 13 Mar 2007 at 12:40

Luverly, that's exactly what I wanted to hear!

Got some files where the permissions seem to have got screwed up - need to keep the files (photos, mp3s etc) but start again with the permissions on a new build.

Thanks guys - now I know I need to format my storage partition on my new drive as FAT32, copy the files, move the drive to the new pc, install XP on the system partition then convert the storage partition back to NTFS! Phew!

The_KiD · 13 Mar 2007 at 12:46

Can you not take ownership of the screwey files? would be a lot simpler than what your suggesting.

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

jchiver · 13 Mar 2007 at 13:14

The_KiD said:
Can you not take ownership of the screwey files? would be a lot simpler than what your suggesting.

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

I remember when i did not know this and how much of a pain it was.

bledd · 13 Mar 2007 at 13:16

yup, do what the kid is suggesting, far quicker!

Azraeluk · 13 Mar 2007 at 14:31

I agree ownership would be the prefered option.

CF93 · 13 Mar 2007 at 14:41

Problem is, I already am the owner of the files.....

The files were created on an old build, and when I upgraded to my current pc I copied all the files over and took ownership at that point, as the new system wouldn't let me access the files at all otherwise.

Since then they've gone a bit screwy as some user accounts can access them and some can't (including my own account.)

Now I'm in the middle of building a new pc, and I just felt it would be easier to see if this would get rid of all the old permissions rather than muck around on each file/folder removing the existing ones once I'd copied them onto a new drive.

Would taking ownership once I've built the new pc remove ALL of the old permissions? If not I'll copy onto the FAT32 partition then convert it back list I thought....

marc2003 · 13 Mar 2007 at 14:58

well if you're the owner already, just goto the security tab and make sure

everyone
system

has full permissions. job done.

CF93 · 13 Mar 2007 at 15:53

marc2003 said:
well if you're the owner already, just goto the security tab and make sure

everyone
system

has full permissions. job done.

Yes but the problem is that they already do have those permissions, but people are getting denied access to use the files (even opening them, never mind editing!)

marc2003 · 13 Mar 2007 at 16:31

well if that's the case, then there must also be explicit deny permissions set on the files which you need to remove. either that, or are they accessing files over a network in which case check your share permissions.

CF93 · 13 Mar 2007 at 21:49

marc2003 said:
well if that's the case, then there must also be explicit deny permissions set on the files which you need to remove. either that, or are they accessing files over a network in which case check your share permissions.

Nope, I've gone through all the permissions on the folders and files (not all of them, there are several hundred) and checked that every user/group with permissions has full control, and they're being accessed on the local machine.

The interesting thing is though that the same files that can be accessed locally can also be accessed over my LAN, but those that can not be accessed locally are denied access over the LAN too.

TBH there's only about 40Gb to be copied, and as it's got to be copied onto the new drive anyway...