After moving iTunes, external drive sometimes becomes read-only after reboot

I had some system corruption a few weeks ago, and had to restore my system. As part of that prolonged effort, I decided to move my iPhoto Library and iTunes Library to external FW800 drives.
I had terrible problems initially with these drives mounting read-only. I found a relatively quick work-around, and that seemed to fix the problem. But I still have them periodically mount read-only, and I can't D/L iTunes updates, etc.
Why do they keep doing this on a reboot? Very frustrating, as I need to reboot as part of the fix, and I'm always in the middle of something else, and can't reboot at that time.

Oh, as part of this, not sure when the change was made, OSX used to keep the mounted volume name in /Volumes, even if the volume was ejected. Would cause an occasional problem - but very rare. I notice now that ML seems to create/delete these mountpoints automagically - and that's part of the problem. They get incorrect permissions when the volume mounts, and I (user I'm logged in as), can't write to the volume without some background shenanigans.
My process is this:
Unmount problem volume
Drop to terminal, and "sudo mkdir /Volumes/<mounted_volume_name>"
Remount volume via Disk Utility (you now get a "<mounted_volume_name> 1" - with CORRECT permissions)
Unmount the volume again
Remove the created directory (i.e. undo step 2)
Remount the volume - 99.9% of the time that seems to fix it.
Reboot to be sure - and it stays for a while - then at some point becomes a problem again.
Not sure if it's something in ML that's an issue - or something in iTunes or iPhoto (but can't see how they would affect the permissions when the system reboots and you login)

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External drive reverts to read-only on reboot

My 2TB firewire drive becomes a read-only drive after a computer reboot. From a cold start, drives boots to read-write. How do I fix this?

Nicky McCatty wrote:
Earlier this morning my external drive, a Western Digital Firewire 800 1TB, was behaving normally. I shut my MacBook Pro down, and took it out for two hours. When I returned, Time Machine reported that my drive appeared to be read-only. I see that BOTH of my external Firewires now show up as read-only.
What causes this to happen, and what can I do about this problem?
A number of things. Most common is probably a power loss; second is probably disconnecting without first ejecting.
It's not permissions; try running +*Repair Disk+* on them, per #A5 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum).

Word 2010 document becomes Read-Only after saving it

Hi,
My Word 2010 document is becoming "Read Only" after saving it, for information my doucment is on the desktop . I searched on this forum and find a couple of solutions (deactivating auto saving, etc.) but it does not work at all. Any other ideas?
Thanks,
Sylvain.

, I wonder why the docuemnt is becoming Read-Only when I am saving it on the Desktop...
I've read articles and blogs of people arguing each side of whether you should use the Desktop as a storage folder and I really
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Kind Regards, Rich ... http://greatcirclelearning.com

Firefox profile folder becomes read-only after closing browser

firefox profile folder becomes read-only after closing browser
It is a problem with firefox or is it this to to a virus?
How to fix? How to prevent?

Only a check mark in the Read-only box means that a folder or file is Read-only.<br />
Windows doesn't check all the files in a folder so instead displays a greenish block to indicate that it is not sure.<br />
You need to look at the files individually to see if any are read-only.<br />
Easiest to do that is to make the Attributes visible in "View > Details" mode: Choose Details in Windows Explorer.<br />

External hard drive suddenly become read only

For those who have been using an external hard drive on OS X (using NTFS file system) without any problem and suddenly one day the system has started mounting it as a read only file system, this is because the file system right now has some inconsistences.
As it happened last night to me i started googling for a quick solution to solve the problem. But i didnt find anything out there. At least at first glance. So then i checked the system logs of the system in order to get some sort of specific information about why that was happening (in OS you have an application that makes so easy to have a look through the system logs and its in /applications/utilities/console.app). In my case, and i repeat, IN MY CASE, the problem was the following:
21/07/11 18:59:02 kernel NTFS-fs warning (device /dev/disk1s1, pid 2140): ntfs_system_inodes_get(): $MFTMirr does not match $MFT. Will not be able to remount read-write. Run ntfsfix and/or chkdsk.
So afterwards once known the problem, was as easy as to mount the external HD in windows and execute the command chkdsk /f (google about the usage of the tool if dont know how it works).
Alternatively, you have the Linux option using the ntfsfix command, but you will need to install the program before that (if dont have it previously in your system) or otherwise you won't be able to use it (sudo apt-get install ntfsprogs)
Hope it helps.
Marc

I got an error message that my External Hard Drive was now 'read only'. Having scoured the various forums looking for clues as to why it had happened I found numerous suggestions, all of which seemed overly complicated and beyond my basic understanding (I'm old enough to remember when Macs 'just worked').
Anyway, among the suggestions on how to correct this I found what seemed like an overly simplified one - 'Don't switch on your external hard drive until after you've booted up'. Since I tend to leave mine on all the time, I immediately turned it off and back on again and ran Time Machine in hope rather than expectation. Would you believe it? It backed up as normal first time. Hope it works for anyone else having the same problem.

External drives mount as read only

I am running OS X 10.6, on a MacPro. Something happened recently to make my external hard drives mount as read only. The only way I've found to be able to fix them is to run Disk Utility every time I start up my computer. Does anyone have an solution to this?
Also every time I run the Disk Utility, at the end of the repairs it says "Updating boot support partitions for the volume as required." I do not know if this is related, but I haven't been able to find anything relevant in relation to my problem with the drives mounting as read only.
Message was edited by: HeatherK

You might give this a try:
Select the drive and Press COMMAND-I to open the Get Info window. At the bottom open the Ownership and Sharing section. Be sure the box labeled "Ignore permissions on this volume" is unchecked. If it is checked then click on the lock icon, authenticate, then uncheck that box. Close the window.
Open the Terminal application in your Utilities folder and at the prompt enter or paste the following:
sudo chown root:admin
Put a space after "admin" then drag the drive's icon into the Terminal window. Press RETURN. You will be prompted to enter your admin password which will not be echoed.
See if this fixes the problem.

External drive changed to read-only

I have a Western Digital external drive that I use for Time Capsule and Super Duper! This morning, when I wanted to start work, Time Capsule said that my drive "appears to be a read-only drive," and Super Duper had failed its overnight backup.
I used BatChMod, and changed the permissions.
When I opened a finder window for the external, it still showed the read-only icon in the lower left hand corner of the window.
The Get Info window shows System as the owner, Admin as the group, with all permissions. EVERYONE has read-only permission.
When I look at the disk in Disk Utility, Repair Disk Permissions is greyed out.
What would change the disk's status, and how can I fix this?
Thanks,
Nicky

Most likely, your backups were corrupted, beyond Disk Utility's ability to repair them. It's possible a 3rd party disk repair app, such as +Disk Warrior,+ could have fixed them, but it's too late now.
Does the drive have two partitions, one for Time Machine backups, and a second for SuperDuper? If so, erase the Time Machine partition and let TM start over.
If not, that's a problem (see #3 in the Frequently Asked Questions *User Tip,* also at the top of this forum). Your best bet is to reformat the disk with two partitions. See #5 in the FAQ for detailed instructions. Then start both Time Machine and SuperDuper over fresh.
Longer-term, having both backups on the same physical drive is not good; if the drive fails, you risk losing both of them.

External drive is suddenly read-only, yet is formatted for Mac

I've had a 1TB external hard drive for the last year and never had a problem with it until now. Suddenly, it is showing as read-only, however, it's formatted for Mac. How am I able to fix this? Do I have to re-format it?

Usually that means the drive is malfunctioning. Back up all data on it, if you haven't already done so, then erase and restore. If you ever have another problem with the drive, replace it.

External drive reverts to read-only on airport extreme

I have an external drive that works fine (full access read/write) when connected directly to my Macbook but reverts to read-only when I connect to it through my airport extreme. It also won't let me change the permisssions over the network. I have another drive used for Time Capsule connected to the Airport Extreme and it works fine, as well as the printer. The problem drive is formatted OS X extended (journaled).

Nicky McCatty wrote:
Earlier this morning my external drive, a Western Digital Firewire 800 1TB, was behaving normally. I shut my MacBook Pro down, and took it out for two hours. When I returned, Time Machine reported that my drive appeared to be read-only. I see that BOTH of my external Firewires now show up as read-only.
What causes this to happen, and what can I do about this problem?
A number of things. Most common is probably a power loss; second is probably disconnecting without first ejecting.
It's not permissions; try running +*Repair Disk+* on them, per #A5 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum).

NTFS Partition on external HDD changed to read only after failed eject

Hi all
I have a Mybook studio split into 2 partitions, a NTFS one and a HFS+ one. After removing the USB cable too quickly following the eject my NTFS partition is read only [I checked using 'get info'].
I need to change this back and I'm stumped - please advise
Many kind regards in advance

Thank you all very much for the advice you have given me. I attempted to make changes with NTFS3G - i upgraded to Tuxera NTFS [which REALLY screwed up everything] - and got a monstorous error message. Disk utility was no good to me either telling me to reformat.
For anyone reading this thread in search of a solution - I used bootcamp to load up my Win7 Partition and then repaired the disk using the built in utility accessble from right click> properties.
It appears there was some corruption causing my problem (?) as it created a folder called found.000 which has a random assortment of files from all over the partition in it. Hopefully it found all the lost data but I have no way of comparing it's before and after state.
Moral of the story - NTFS isn't quite ready for Mac yet, at least in my experience.
Now if only we could get time machine to work with NTFS..
Cheers again to you all!

Drive changes to read only

I am new to mac. I have a new 27" IMac. I purchased this computer strictly for photo processing
I have 3 external drives
1. Time Machine backup - Seagate 3TB - No problemn with this drive right out of the box
2. Photo Drive - Seagate 2TB Firewire drive- Photo library is 1.4TB
3. Original Photos -Seagate 2 TB USB drive Small amout of data but have used this for backup while reformating the photo drive
1TB Internal drive that only contains the OS and Programs. Mainly Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop
The Photo Drive was purchased as ready for PC or Mac
I pluged it in and it worked just long enough to load all my photos and get things organized.
The 2TB Original Photo drive was originall used for PC and I discovered I could not write to this drive so I reformatted to OS Journaled.
Next, My main Photo drive became read only - Error message stated I need to refornat the drive - Error 36
I transfered all Photos to Original, Reformated Photos as OS Journaled and then transfered files from Origianl back to Photo
All sorded for a a couple of weeks then the Origial drive became read only and I have to format it again.
Since then, the photo drive has become read only two more times.
I just finished reloading the photo drive for the third time on Thursday. For the last 3 days I have been Importing new photos from several weeks of shooting.
All seemd fine untill today. I tried to create a folder and discovered the photo drive is once again read only. The Original photos drive is still read / write.
I have read everything I can online. It seems other people have had similar problems but I found no solutions.
Currently the photo drive info is as follows
Flormat Mac OS Extended - I'm sure I selected Journaled on the last format
Sharing and permissions
"You can only read" is at the top
followed in black text
     Paul (Me) Read & Write
     Staff Read & Write
     Everyone Read & Write - (I changed this after formatting and before reloading the drive thinking it might help)
     Ignore ownership is checked
I can unlock the pad lock Icon but I cannot change anything except I can uncheck and recheck Ignor ownership. However this still does not allow me to make any changes.
One clue I may have to offer
I use a small Seagate drive named Transfer Drive which I use in the field.
It is formated NTFS
I download photos from my photo cards to my PC notebook and back them up to the Transfer drive
When I get home I import photos from the Transfer drive to my iMac using Lightroom
This was the last action I performed yesterday. I performed 8 imports from the Transfer drive to My imac with Lightroom
Is it possible that importing from a NTFS drive to the external Photo drive is causing this problem?
I really need to solve this. It takes about 3 days for me to move my photo library and reformat the drive
Not to mention the fact that I am very worried about my photo files.
Thank you in advance
Paul McCroskey

There may be a solution here, but I would modify the instructions to say that if Verify disk shows OK, you don't need to go on to Repair.
https://discussions.apple.com/message/18266486#18266486
First, copy/paste, leave a space after -alO and drag Photos into the Terminal window and hit return.
ls -alO
If the output shows the uchg flag, the immutable (locked) flag, then run the following to remove it.
sudo chflags nouchg /Volumes/Photos
If that doesn't fix it, then Verify Disk. If that shows an error, then follow the instructions to copy the data elsewhere first, then run Disk repair. Sometimes, though this is rare, disk repair can make things worse.
(After removing the immutable flag -- if it proves necessary -- you may still have to go on and run the commands you tried earlier.)

Files and folders becoming read-only

Lots of my files and folders have become read-only after
downloading Eclipse (I have used the Europa version as I needed to
also download CFEclipse as well to program in ColdFusion) and Adobe
ColdFusion. When you right-click and go to properties, the
read-only button is highlighted, so I have clicked this off, but it
reappears when you right-click and look at it again.
Does anybody know what has caused this and how I can fix
this?

Hi,
After opening your eclipse,
Hit alt+shift+w and click "Navigator"
and then select your project folder -> right click it,
Go to properties and turn off read only.

PowerPoint Makes File Read-only After Saving

Hello all,
A couple of end users have encountered the above problem. They make changes to pptx files and after the file saves, the file becomes read only (says so on the program window). If they are not paying attention, then any other changes they make to the file
need to be saved to another file, which needless to say, is very annoying.
They have saved the file, file becomes read-only, then if they close the file and open it back up, it's fine; they can edit and save.
It happens sporadic. Could it be an autosave happening at the same time? Any others experiencing this?
Any help would be appreciated!
JB

Hi
Thank you for using
Microsoft Office for IT Professionals Forums.
From your description, I understand that you want to allow changes by more than one user at the same time in PowerPoint . If
there is any misunderstanding, please feel free to let me know.
In Microsoft PowerPoint 2010, multiple authors can simultaneously change the same presentation stored on a server.
The new co-authoring functionality in Microsoft Office 2010 makes it possible for multiple users to work productively on the same
document without intruding on one another’s work or locking each other out.
More detailed information you can refer to this article
Work on a presentation at the same time as your colleagues
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/powerpoint-help/work-on-a-presentation-at-the-same-time-as-your-colleagues-HA010344967.aspx#BM2
Please take your time to try the suggestions and let me know the results at your earliest convenience. If anything
is unclear or if there is anything I can do for you, please feel free to let me know.
Hope that helps.
Sincerely
William Zhou CHN

Files and folders moved to NAS become read only.

I just got an Iomega NAS. When I move files and folders to it from my Macbook, they become read only when they get there. Files from my girlfriend's PC stay read/write when they are moved to the NAS.
I first noticed this with iTunes. I changed the location of my iTunes folder to be on the NAS and I let iTunes copy the music itself. Now, I can add music by new artists, but if I try to add an artist that I already have a folder for, it won't let me because the folder is read only. Also, I can't change any of the info for any files in iTunes.
I'm not sure if this has anything to do with it, but it looks like all of the files and folders on my Mac are set up so that only I can see them. When I click "get info" on any file on the computer, it shows:
me : read/write
staff: read only
everyone: read only

When I open a finder window, I see two icons for the NAS in the "shared" section. The first one is:
hmnhd-ti2mkg
When I click "get info" it shows "Kind: PC Server" and there is no mention of permissions in the "get info" box.
The second one is:
hmnhd-TI2MKG.local
When I click "get info" it shows "Kind: Server" and there is no mention of permissions in the "get info" box.
Clicking on either one of these icons lets me browse through the exact same shares and folders. There is no difference between going in to one or the other. They both have the same permissions on all folders, as well.
"Jacob's iTunes Music" is a share on the NAS. All of my read only files (that I want to change to read/write) are already in this share.
Clicking "get info" on any of the shares shows them as "Kind: Sharepoint" with no mention of permissions.
I think I'm going to try to have iTunes copy all the files to my computer, change the permissions, then have it copy them back to the NAS. Is there a way to change permissions of folders, subfolders, and files without having to click "get info" on each and every one?

"low disk space hp_tools" after installing HP external drive

I have this message displayed "low disk space hp_tools" after installing HP external drive with simple save. A new drive was created on my internal hard drive and apparently the allotted space is not enough. How do I get rid of the partition and the error message?

Install WinDirStat from below link and see whats consuming more space in E:\ drive and post results here with a screenshot
http://windirstat.info/wds_current_setup.exe
//Click on Kudos and Accept as Solution if my reply was helpful and answered your question//
I am an HP employee!!

After moving iTunes, external drive sometimes becomes read-only after reboot

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