New SSD—how do I access the files on my old drive?

[MacHein]

So I made the switch to an 80 GB Intel SSD yesterday. My two year old MBP is now as good as new.

I also bought an external case for the old HDD. That, too, works just fine—I can browse the HDD like any other drive.

Yet I can't see any files—only folders.

I understand the logic behind this (with my account being password protected and all that), but I still need my old files back.

How do I proceed? What options do I have?

 

[DewGuy1999]

You could try booting from the external hard drive, hopefully the one you got is bootable, not all are. Once you've booted from it remove the password protection and it should then be accessible when you're back to booting from the SSD.