all files are read only

Have a W2k AD server. Created new DC on W2k3 and gave it an entirely different domain name. All the data files were on the old server so I copies them to the new server. Now they are all “Read Only”. I wanted to demote
the old server and make it a member server of the new domain in an attempt to get these files onto the new server but if I do this what will happen? I am a little worried that I cant get these files onto the new server and still be able to access them. Any help would be great.
I have change the attributes on the files but they continue to go back to Read Only. I am the system administrator but it doesn’t matter.