EFS encrypted documents backed up on another hard drive (desktop, reinstall, Windows)

[Upsilon]

Hey all,

Just wanted to see if anyone had any interesting theories to tackle this issue. I encrypted my desktop folder for my user account a while back and backed up the folder onto a separate partition because I wanted to reinstall Windows 7. Well, those two events (encrypting and reinstalling) happened a few months apart and I actually forgot to retrieve a personal key/certificate for unlocking those files before the OS was reinstalled. Now, I find myself with a new OS installed/new administrator account and a new SID and a folder with a ton of documents that are locked because the owner of the files is no longer present and I have no certificate to import.

Anyone know any techniques for unlocking these files and making them usable again or are they just permanently locked/encrypted?

Thanks,

-Upsilon

[bs13690]

The only way I know of to "crack" these files is with 3rd party software such as this:

Crack password : Download fastest password recovery, forensic and system security software. Forgot your password? Lost passwords recovery tools, passwords crackers, system security and forensic software. Advanced EFS Data Recovery

I've never used it personally.

[MediocreButArrogant]

You could have avoided these problems if you had used TrueCrypt instead.