Here is the issue. I have an old laptop that died that was running xp. I now have a win 7 laptop. I need to get the files off the old drive. Win 7 will not let me take ownership of the drive. I can runn the comand prompt in regular mode and do a dir on the drive that shows up as Q: drive in regular mode. I gives me the volume as c and the serial number. I can not take ownership in regular mode with the comand prompt or other means. Microsoft site says use safe mode with networking. So I go to safe mode the drive shows up as G: in safe mode. I use the comand prompt Takeown /f G: and get the device is not ready error. I am at a loss. All I want is to retrieve my files from this drive. Any ideas or sugestions. I don't see how you can dir and get some info in one mode and not acces it in another. I have to get ownership and permissions fixed to get in the drive to get my files. Thanks in advance. I might add that I am using a usb3.0 to ide/sata cable adapter. Software came with the device but I can't make heads or tails out of the manual to know if any of the software can help me. The soft ware is PCClone Ex lite, and Clone Drive Soft ware