retrieving files from and old hard drive connected as a slave

I would like to know how to access a file from a hard drive connected as a slave on my desktop. The slave drive was removed from my laptop (Compaq presario 7200) and was connected to my desktop hard drive(Gateway FX400X) using a laptop hard drive adapter. My computer detect the laptop drive successfully as a slave but I can not access the files, everytime I try to open the file I receive an “access denied” warning message. I already try the claim ownership trick you guys explained in one of your topic questions with no success. Please help me my master’s thesis is inside there!!!! Any help would be really appreciated. sith or jedi