I'm trying to rescue files from a laptop hard drive by having the (now removed) HD plugged into a laptop PCMCIA slot via a connector.

However, even though I can get into all of the files on both partitions... I can't get into those in the individual folders in Documents and Settings. There I get an "Access Denied" error.

So I can't retrieve stuff from the desktop, or email folders.

Any ideas?

Try either booting in safe mode (not sure if the external drive will then work), or take ownership of the directory (http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;308421) to reset permissions.