Disk Utility-Ext Hard Drive Locked and no options to unlock-only visible in Disk Utility- 500GB freeagent

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I never received a reply to this, so I'm marking it as 'answered' just to close it out.

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Why are the files I migrated over from a backup hard drive locked and inaccessible on my new used Mac Book pro? I used the migration assistant. Running Snow Leopard on a core duo.

My laptop got pinched and I bought a used Mac Book Pro, put a larger hard drive in it and performed a clean install of Snow Leopard on the new drive, after which I used the Migration Assistant to bring over my applications, settings, documents, etc., from my backup hard drive. This hard drivekis not a Ti e Machine drive, it's one I use to clone my computer to regularly with Carbon Copy Cloner. When the migration was complete all my documents, the desktop,and other folders are locked and won't allow me to access them. What to do? Thanks for the help.

Graham Giles wrote:
Have you seen this type of problem before? I think it could be a serious issue for anyone in a similar position.
No; but then, I've not had occasion to use TDM. I've been using firerwire drives for over 10 years, both FW400 and FW800, with no issues except a bit of instability using a B&W G3 machine.
TDM should be safe. Using cautious, manual copying of files from the Target machine to the Host machine should not result in unexpected loss of files or damage to the Target drive's directories. It should behave exactly the same as if it were an external (to the Host) firewire drive.
• I don't suppose there is anything I can do to 'put back' lost items from a separate Time Machine drive which has an up to date backup on it.
There is probably a way to do that - seems to me that's one of the reasons for a Time Machine volume.
On the other hand, if the Time Machine volume is rigidly linked to the now-absent OS on the original drive, there may be no way to effectively access the files in the TM archive.
I know that using a cloned drive would work well in this instance.
I have no experience with Time Machine, so perhaps someone who has will chime in with suggestions.
With the machine in TDM with the other machine, have you tried running Disk Utility to see if you can effect repairs to the drive?

Leopard-induced hard drive failure and support options

I purchased a copy of Leopard a couple weeks back and installed it on my Macbook. Everything seemed fine at first, but within a few days I began experiencing sudden, inexplicable crashes. I could be checking my email, editing a word doc or simply browsing the Finder when the OS would completely crash and the computer would reboot.
This began happening more frequently, and a few days ago the computer crashed for the last time—I can no longer boot up at all. When I power on the Macbook the sleep indicator light comes on steady, but the screen remains dark, and there is no hard drive activity. I suspect at this point that my hard drive has died.
My question is, before I bring in my Macbook to get the hard drive replaced (the one-year warranty has expired), is there anything Apple Support can do for me? It seems ridiculous that I paid for a new OS which destroyed my hard drive, and then will have to pay for repairs and a new drive. Any suggestions?

Hi Cloudneuf.
Hope I can bring clarity on a few points :
0 : If you have not done so, perform the steps described in this article : http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=303234
1 : Don't be afraid if the DVD/CD gets swallowed. If that happens : shut down your Mac (pressing 5 seconds the power button always does) than start it up while pressing the trackpad or mouse button : this will eject the disk -it used to eject the floppy disk back in 1984
2 While a backup disk is very useful, DIskWarrior is useful in case of emergency but most Mac users do not have it (I have to confess I have it though)
3 Start with Leopard' install DVD : Shut down if necessary by pressing 5 seconds on the power button? Then Start the Mac while pressing the C key (C was for CD). The Mac will start using the CD or DVD. By the way, if you want to select a startup drive, hold the option/alt key when starting
4 Once in the installer, (I think after the primary language screen) you can access the Disk Utility through a menu. In the DIsk Utility, you can repair your drive.
5 If Disk repairing is not enough, start using Leopard's DVD and perform an "Archive and Install" (that's in one of the oprions button if I remember correctly). This will install a clean version of Leopard but will keep all your personal data intact.
6 If that does not work,, start using Léopard's DVD and perforem an "erase and install". You will lose all your data and will have to collect it back from your external drive afterwards.
7 If Erase and install does not work, your Mac needs service.

I purchased a IMac in Feb later I added a Seagate ext. hard drive. On April 29 I received an errors that the ext. Drive may be a read only and not backing up files. I'm unable to check disk permission or correct errors. Help would be appreciated.

I purchased a IMac in Feb later I added a Seagate ext. hard drive. On April 29 I received an errors that the ext. Drive may be a read only and not backing up files. I'm unable to check disk permission or correct errors. Help would be appreciated.

Click on the hard drive on the desktop, then File > Get Info. What does it say about permissions? If this is just a data drive you may want to consider "ignore ownership on this volume".
Otherwise I can only say I have not been reading good things about Seagate drives recently. I have some of their rock-solid ones from about 10 years ago (still running well), but now...?

I have 3 older ext. hard drives that I've utilized many times. Today while searching for old files, one of the three is no longer recognized by my PowerMac. Any suggestions?

I have 3 older ext. hard drives that I've utilized many times. Today while searching for old files, one of the three is no longer recognized by my PowerMac. The drive is not listed in Disk Utility. Any suggestions?

Is the computer in you equipment line:
Dual Core Intel Xenon
(which is not a PowerMac but a Mac Pro) the one you are asking about, or do you have an older PowerMac?
If a Mac Pro, their forums are here:
Mac Pro
and, as Mac Pros have a totally different architecture from the pre-2005 Macs this forum covers, you may not have the same issues that can affect the older models. If someone didn't notice your equipment line, you could get advice that doesn't apply.
If you really have a pre-2005 PowerMac, read on.
If the stubborn external is USB and does not have its own power brick (i.e., it gets power only from the computer's UBS ports--"bus powered"), it may not be getting enough power. As electric motors age, they can demand more power than when new, and the power available on any USB port is limited.
The typical workabouts to making a computer recognize an aging, bus-powered USB drive are:
Get a powered USB hub (has its own power brick
Get a "Y" USB cable: 1 Meter USB 2.0 A to 5 Pin Mini B Cable - Auxiliary USB "Y" Power Design for external hard drives.
The second gets power from two USB ports on the computer and often that's enough.
Remember that the USB ports on your keyboard seldom provide enough power even for a thumb drive, so be sure to use the USB ports on the back of the computer.

I have just bought a macbook pro and i want to use an ext hard drive with it which i previously used on a windows computer, but when i plug it in it doesn't show up on my macbook pro, I've wiped it and just need to format it but don't know how, help

i have just bought a macbook pro and i want to use an ext hard drive with it which i previously used on a windows computer, but when i plug it in it doesn't show up on my macbook pro, I've wiped it and just need to format it but don't know how, any help would be much appreciated

Try the other USB port. If it still doesn't show up in Disk Utility then there may be something wrong with your Mac. Try something else in each USB port and see if it is seen. If the other thing, like a USB thumb drive, does show up in disk utiltiy then the USB ports are fine.
Power down the system and restart with the drive connected, go to DU and see it it is seen.

My photos are stored on ext. hard drive, and now I can't see them

I recently moved all of my photos over to an external hard drive, and have been quite happy with the freed up space on my ibook. I have been able to view them flawlessly until a few nights ago. Our power went out, and then came back on (yes, I know I should have a battery back up), so of course the ext. harddrive turned off with unmounting, and since then, I cannot view my photos in iphoto. There is still the correct picture count registering, however in place of all of my photo thumbnails in IPhoto, now I am only seeing grey boxes in the same shapes as the thumbnails. I have tried everything, including unmounting the ext. hard drive. I am at my wits end and have been working too much to go into the genius bar.
Anyone have any suggestions?
Thanks,
Jerrod

Hi Jerrod,
A couple of things for you to try:
-Launch iPhoto with the Option key depressed and choose to open another library. Navigate to the one on the external and choose it.
-Delete your iPhoto Preference file
Preference file
-rebuild your library
Try this:
Before doing a rebuild make sure iPhoto's trash bin is emptied. You can do this by control clicking on the trash bin, or from the menu bar under iPhoto.
Close iPhoto
Duplicate the iPhoto Library folder
Drag the duplicate to the desktop (hopefully you have enough room on your hard drive for the duplicate.)
Launch iPhoto holding down the Command and Option keys until you see the rebuild options screen.
Choose the first three options. If you were missing photos in your library, also choose the last option. Be advised that you will get a roll of orphaned photos and it might be quite huge. Most of them will already be in your iPhoto library, but use caution when deleting anything from this roll until you are sure the photos are still in your library in another place. It might be a good idea to share/export this roll of photos just in case you need to import them again.
Back to the rebuild, depending on the size of your library it might take some time. When it is done, hopefully your photos will be there.
You might see some unexpected results as I did when I did a rebuild. Photos had been moved to wrong dates, video clips had lost their duration info and some were even orphaned from the jpg pointer file. It took me some time to straighten it out again.
This is the reason to make a duplicate before you rebuild, in case you do not like the result. If you don't like the result, close iPhoto, then delete the rebuilt library and drag the duplicate back into the Pictures folder making sure the name is iPhoto Library. Launch iPhoto and it should open the library in the Pictures folder.
iPhoto 4 or later: Rebuilding the iPhoto Library
-Navigate through the iPhoto Library folder and make sure your images are still there and open when double clicked.
This is a view of how the iPhoto Library looks in the Finder.
It is organized by Year folders. Inside the Year folders are Month folders. Inside the Month folders are the days of the Month. Inside the day folders are the photos you took on that day. If you imported video clips and RAW files on that day they will be in an Originals folder. If you have edited any photo imported on that day, the original will be in that folder also.
Please get back with the steps you tried and the results.
If none of these suggestions work, you can create a new library and import from the old.
Close iPhoto
Rename your messed up iPhoto Library to "iPhoto Library_old"
Drag this library to your desktop
Hold down the Option key and launch iPhoto
This is the window you will get
Create a new library or choose a library to open
Choose to create a new library
Once this new empty library is open it is time to import the images from your old library
Go to File>add to library
Navigate to the old library on your desktop and choose it.
iPhoto will start importing the images from your old library
This is what to expect:
Your images will be imported in nice dated rolls. (make sure your view is set to sort by rolls to see it) There are a couple of caveats to this. You will get rolls named "Originals" These rolls will contain your video clips and your original images that you had edited. If you had RAW files they would be in those rolls too (I don't do RAW, so I don't know for sure) Delete what you don't want from those rolls. You will also get the jpeg pointer files to your video clips imported. They will just be jpegs and will not point to the video clips anymore as iPhoto made new ones when the clips were imported again. You can delete those. they should be in a roll right next to the newly imported video clips so they are not hard to find. The thumbnail files don't get imported as iPhoto makes new ones when the images are imported.
Once all you images have been imported, check through the library and make sure everything looks ok.
You can now start making your Albums, and do your keywords or any other organizational steps.
You can also delete the old library on the desktop.
It is also a good time to backup this new library to CD/DVD by burning the iPhoto LIbrary folder in the Finder, or copying the iPhoto Library folder to an external drive formatted for Macs, or copying the iPhoto LIbrary folder to an iPod.
Good luck!
Lori

Photos in my from my iPhone have same numbering as photos from my dig camera. They all go into iPhoto fine but when I backup to my ext hard drive it will only save one with the name IMG 1002 and I have two separate images both with that name. Help?

Photos in my from my iPhone have the same numbering as photos from my digital camera. They all go into iPhoto fine but when I backup to my ext hard drive it will only save one with the name IMG 1002 and I have two separate images both with that name. How do I get them all to save on my ext hard drive and hope do I prevent this numbering overlap in the future? I'm really hoping I don't have to go through and manually rename every single picture. Thanks.

How are you backing up the photos? The best way is to backup the library itself as that will preserve your organizational efforts as well as all metadata like keywords, titles, faces, places, books, etc.
You can use a backup application that does incremental backups. Thus only the first backup is a full one and subsequent backups just copy those files that are new or changed. I use Synk Pro. The lower cost version, Synk, will do the same job. Other similar apps can be found at MacUpdate.com.
OR: upload your camera to a folder on the Desktop. There you can rename the files to something that is more informative than just the file name. I use the date (international format) along with a brief desc: 2007-1-20-adian1stbday-001.jpg. File renaming apps can also be found at MacUpdate.com. Also you can give the folder an informatve name which will become the Event name when you import the folder of photos into iPhoto.
OT

I formatted my ext hard drive and changed it to mac os x extended(journaled). then i put in all my data back. after a while, i insert the hard drive but my macbook cannot read it. plz help

i formatted my ext hard drive and changed it to mac os x extended(journaled). then i put in all my data back. after a while, i insert the hard drive but my macbook cannot read it. plz help

SanandaDutta
tried on a different mac. The same problem exists.
If that is the case, its extremely unlikely you have a bad USB cable on the seagate, rather as I mentioned earlier a bad SATA bridge card.
If the Seagate 1TB USB external wont open on either Mac and youve verified same (try a diff. USB cable if you have one however this is nearly never the case),....then to get the data off that HD (unless it is dead which is also extremely unlikely),......then you would need to extract the HD from its case and insert same into either a HD dock or USB HD enclosure.
8 out of 10 seemingly dead inopperable 1-3+ year old external HD are perfectly fine, rather the cheap 50 cent SATA bridge card fries and dies (alas)
reply back if you need help in extracting same.

I had my hard drive cleaned and cannot install cs6 master collection from disk. I am getting error message failed to initialize. please download adobe advisor support. I have a pc and am using windows 8

I had my hard drive cleaned and cannot install cs6 master collection from disk. I am getting error message failed to initialize. please download adobe advisor support. I am using a pc and have windows 8. Please help.

start at the top and work your way down applying applicable fixes until your problem is resolved.
if cc (win): https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/kb/creative-cloud-desktop-application-failed.html
if, your error is:
"Installer failed to initialize. File not found." or "Installer failed to initialize. This could be due to missing files."
first, rename OOBE Folder to OOBE.old.
to find OOBE:
64 bit win OS: Program Files x86\Common Files\Adobe\OOBE
32 bit win OS: Program Files \Common Files\Adobe\OOBE
mac os: HD>library>application support>adobe>caps
mac os: USER>library>application support>adobe>OOB
if that fails or isn't the exact error you see, uninstall, clean (http://www.adobe.com/support/contact/cscleanertool.html) and reinstall.
if you're using a dvd to install:
copy the disc contents to a desktop directory and install from that directory.
if you're using a mac:
1. Try to Create a new user account in Mac with Administrator Priviledges.
2. Login to the New user, Navigate to Mac HD> Application> Utilities> Adobe Installer folder, Locate products like Adobe Reader, Adobe Flash, Adobe Air and un-install them
3. Navigate to User Library> Application Support> Adobe and move Adobe to Trash.
4. Navigate to Mac HD> Library> Application Support> Adobe and move Adobe to Trash.
5. Start the installation again.
if everything applicable above fails, check your installation logs:
http://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop-elements/kb/troubleshoot-install-using-logs-elements.html

All my hard drives (internal and external) have a small lock in the lower left corner of the icon and I don't have permissions to access. Permissions are set to 'Custom' in the get info window and I can't change them.

All my hard drives (internal and external) have a small lock in the lower left corner of the icon and I don't have permissions to access. I have 3 user accounts set up and I cannot access any of them. Permissions are set to 'Custom' in the get info window and I can't change them. Originally I had Snow Leopard installed on one hard drive and 10.5.8 installed on another. I started to have some problems accessing data between them and so I tried changing the permissions on ONE hard drive partition. The next thing I know, all my drives are locked (except the ones with the systems on them), the small lock appeared in the lower left corner of the drive icons and I don't have permissions to access any of them. In the get info window, permissions are set to 'Custom' and I can't change them.

There is suddenly a lock icon on my external backup drive!
Custom Permissions

I am considering purchasing a new Mac desktop. I have, at present, a Liteon 851S ext CD/DVD write and a Maxtor 3200 USB ext hard drive. Will these work with a Mac desktop? My local Apple store could not answer my question.Happy New year to all.

I am considering purchasing a new Mac desktop. I have, at present, a Liteon 851S ext CD/DVD write and a Maxtor 3200 USB ext hard drive. Will these work with a Mac desktop? My local Apple store could not answer my question.Happy New year to all.

Yes the Mac can read that drive but you would need to Copy the data off of it to the Mac as apposed to Move, which implies Deleting them from the drive as they were transferred from the external to the Mac. Since the Mac can Not Write to NTFS drives it can't Delete anything as that is really a Write operation, IE Making changes to the NTFS formatted drive.
Once you have that Data on Both your New Mac and you Older Windows PC you can format that drive to work on both system.
If you want to and plan on doing that post back and I'll explane how, it is simple but should be done on a Windows PC.
If you only plan on using it on the Mac from now on that is fairly simple also and is done on the Mac, Once you have the files from it stored on the Mac.
Yes you could burn those photos to DVD but that is just a waste of DVDs, you don't need to.

HT1420 how do i Deauthorize a computer that has had the hard drive lock up and can not get it working

how do i deauthorize a computer that has had the hard drive lock up and can not get it working

You can only deauthorise individual computers directly on them. Otherwise if you've reached the 5 computer limit, then you should be able to log into your iTunes account and 'deauthorise all' (which you can only do once every 12 months) and you can then (re-)authorise up to 5 computers : authorising and deauthorising.

DANGER: Do Not Change Hard Drive Ownership and Permissions

DANGER: Do Not Change Hard Drive Ownership and Permissions (Unless you know what you are doing... I didn't!)
FIRST, THE REPAIR PERMISSIONS SOLUTION:
Use Disk Utilities on the "Sofware Install and Restore" DVD that came with your computer to set the permissions back to the defaults. Not the MacOSX Installation Disk. (This worked in MacOS 10.3.9)
MY SCREW UP
In my Hard Drive's "Get Info" dialog I switched the permissions of the Owner to my username and all others to no access. I had not yet closed the dialog and decided that it was probably dangerous so I started changing them back. I first changed the owner back to system. It asked for authentication.
After entering my password I assumed that I would be able to go back and change the others as well. Nope! The dialog disappeared, my desktop disappeared and I couldn't do anything. I was locked out.
After ten minutes of the beachball I restarted to the "Panther Installation disk" and tried repairing permissioins using disk utility. Evertime it "lost contact" with the system and would not work. Restarting (without CD) took me to a root user login (black sreen). My username and password did nothing.
THE SOLUTION
I then restarted to the "Software Install and Restore" DVD that came with my computer and used its Disk Utility to repair permissions. IT WORKED! It set permissions back to the default. THANK GOD.
NOTE: I wonder, will using the Install and Restore DVD to repair permissions reset any computer's files to the defaults? Is that a backdoor into someones currently restricted files and folders? (Assuming that you have physical access and the computer specific DVD)

Using the Repair Permissions function will not change the permissions on an account's home folder or anything in it, but there are at least two other ways in which someone with a Mac OS X 10.4 installation disk can get access to an account's files or folders unless some or all of those files are encrypted.
(19285)

Hard drive death and invisibility

the other day, my hard drive seemed to die. i made a silly mistake - i had accidently gotten myself down to about 5gb free on my macbook pro's internal drive, and had then forgotten and started downloading more things. i guess i was downloading for a little while, then i shut down my computer, left the house, and got on a train. on the train, i plugged in my charger and started playing around on ableton live (resource-intensive program). everything was running fine for about 20 minutes (and nothing more was downloading at this point), but then my computer began to freeze. i thought it was just the program, as it can be a little buggy at times, but then then the whole os locked up and i had to do a force-shutdown.
then my woes began. i turned the laptop back on - and got the flashing folder with the question-mark. around this time i remember how full my hard drive was, and i get a bit concerned. i try a few things to get it to boot, but no joy. i resign myself to a train ride with no laptop. when i get home, i boot from the install dvd, open disc utility, and it shows only my dvd drive. hard drive invisible. as though has just vanished. so i assume it's a dead drive. i plug in an external through usb, and install the os onto this. computer boots fine, though a little slow (to be expected, usb). my internal drive still doesn't show. i try diskwarrior, and that it doesn't show there either. so by now i've resigned myself to an unsalvagable (within my price limits) drive. so today, i went and bought a replacement drive and a set of screwdrivers. i had to buy a slightly higher-end drive, as it was the only one they had in stock - a western digital 'scorpio black'. i get home and open the laptop's guts and install the replacement, then boot from the dvd. disc utility doesn't show it. i open the guts again and check that i installed it okay, and i'm pretty sure i did. i've opened it again about 4 times since, to check again and again. it always seems fine. when i do system profiler (from the boot disc or os on the external) i get the "there was an error while scanning for serial-ata devices".
then there's the problem that i'm really broke, after buying the replacement drive, so i can't buy an external enclosure to test that the drive(s) work, to see whether it's a drive issue or a laptop issue. could i plug them directly into the desktop (that i write this from), to test them? or would i need adaptors..? i know that my desktop (windows) case wouldn't support 2.5" drives, but if i secured it in place by other means, would the connectors work? as a troubleshooting thing.
any ideas? my guess at the moment, it must be either:
- the overloaded drive did something bad to my hardware (the bit that controls the hard drives?).
- a powersuge on the train did something nasty (maybe?)
- my first drive is dead, and the replacement drive isn't appearing for a different reason (it's a 3gb/s drive, i read that there was a firmware upgrade required to get these running - but i downloaded the update on the external os, and it said the update wasn't required).
- everything is toast. and i have to use windows.
it seems relevant that everything works fine when running the os through usb. it's just that internal drives don't appear or work. and it's also relevant that i can't send it away to get repaired, 'cause i have no money.
after all this, i got stressed and drank beer. so please excuse any silly errors and my extensive storytelling. and thank you so much in advance.

miinna,
Did you ever figure out the problem?
I am working on a friends mac and it has the same exact issue. For some reason my Lion hard drive boots as ab internal, but any blank or snow leopard drive won't even show up in the disk utilitiy. I can install/read from an external drive. I get the same "there was an error while scanning for serial-ata devices" error.
I'm wondering if it is the SATA cable or something worse.
Specs:
MacbookPro5,3
Intel Core 2 Duo
2.66
A1286

Disk Utility-Ext Hard Drive Locked and no options to unlock-only visible in Disk Utility- 500GB freeagent

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