Can I back up with Time Machine to a previously used hard drive?

I've just replaced an old MacBook Pro with a new one and used Time Machine to get the new MBP set up.  All is well and it looks like my new computer is a mirror of the old (tested for a week now).  If I turn on Time Machine with the new MBP using the same hardrive as the former, will the files remain and be accessible?  Presently, I can only access the old files by going into the hard drive through Finder and even then, most are locked.  Thanks in advance. 

There's your problem. I'm betting that you are currently using the new account you made which is why you cannot access anything on the migrated account.
If it's not a major hassle at this point in time log out of the new account. Log into your migrated account. You should now be able to access all your files. Now comes the issue. Let's suppose you named your new account, "NewAccount" and the second, migrated, account was named, "Account." If this is the case, then log out of "NewAccount," log into "Account," then delete "NewAccount." This should put you back to your old account but on the new computer. You should have access to all your files.
Now, suuppose your migrated old account was called "Account," but you created a new account that you named, "Account." Then you migrated your old account but it now shows as "Account 2" on the new computer. Now you've go a bit of a problem because it isn't trivial to rename an account. In this case you should create a third account we'll call "Temp." Log into "Temp" and delete the other two accounts. Open Migration Assistant and re-migrate your Home folder, third-party applications and support files, and system preferences from the old computer. After the transfers have been completed log into the migrated account and configure it as your default for auto login. Now delete "Temp." You should now have one account with the same username as on the old computer.
It's my understanding that Time Machine should then be able to continue backing up as before, but just to be sure you need to visit Pondini's Time Machine FAQ for better information.

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