All my folders are "read only", can't undo :(

All my folders are read only And I can't change them so they can be "read". I am using WinXP. When I go to preperties on a folder it has

read only
Hidden

the check box for read only is checked but the mark is grey instead of black. If I uncheck it and hit ok then redo properties on the folder, the mark is back again but still grey. Is there any thing I can do? The onky recent changes I made was to remove a spare 40 gig drive that I had in there and replace it with a 120 gig drive. Also it does this on all the partitions.

One more thing, the files are not read only, only the folders themselves. I can't copy files from another computer to this one but I can copy files from my computer to the read only folders. In case that information is needed.

on which drive are the redo only files located? On the drive you replaced?

It is happening on all my drives. I have 2 drive with 5 partitions. The boot drive is an 80 gig with a main partition to boot from a smaller partiton just for the scratch disk and a third one for general storage. I split the 120 gig into two partitions for storage. The main drive is a Western Digital and solo on the ide chain, while the Maxtor shares a spot with my CD-RW.

Try logging into the machine with the Administrator account or one with administrative priveleges and change folder permissions. You may also try to take ownership of the folders and then change them with the account you are currently using.

Right click the folder in question - Properties - Security Tab - Advanced button - Owner tab.

If you do it from the root of C:\ and check the "Replace on owner on subcontainers and objects" box, you should only have to do it once.

Cheers!!

I tried your suggestions Jezter, but still the same problem
Any more ideas?

The Read-only and System attributes are only used by Windows Explorer to determine whether the folder is a special folder, such as a system folder that has its view customized by Windows (for example, My Documents, Favorites, Fonts, Downloaded Program Files), or a folder that you customized by using the Customize tab of the folder's Properties dialog box. As a result, Windows Explorer does not allow you to view or change the Read-only or System attributes of folders.

You Cannot View or Change the Read-Only or System Attribute of Folders
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=326549

Also, see:
Unable to Remove Read-Only Attribute from Folder
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=256614

Start at the top.
Check to see what the permissions are at the upermost levels, ie. the c drive. If for some reason the c drive was changed to read only and the option to propagate down is selected, every folder down the chain will recieve that restriction.