External HDD - Permissions

Hello everyone,
I share an external hdd and the files on it with a lot of people. What ails us: the whole permission mumbo-jumbo.
Is there a way to automatically strip all permissions (or like chmod 777) and the ownership from a the file, when it's copied to the ehdd?
Thanks!

As BaconPie said, change the fstab of every computer that connects to the drive.
create a line for your usb drive or add to the existing line _one_ of the following in the options column:
dmask=0222,fmask=0333
umask=0222
uid=1000,gid=1000 (check with the 'id' command that this matches your user and group id)
You might also want to add the option 'user' to allow you to mount and unmount that drive without being root.
Lastly, you are able to write to the drive right? Else see https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/NTFS_Write_Support

Similar Messages

Can't Read/Write to External HDD-Permissions Problem

I have external Seagate HDD, formatted as FAT32, connected to Airport Extreme Base Station. I am unable to Read/Write to this Drive because Finder says I "Don't have permissions" to do so.
Following are details that may be important:
1. I was able to read/write to this drive under Leopard but lost the right under Snow Leopard, after upgrade to SL.
2. In Airport Utility, I set up (2) accounts for the External HDD, "Dad" with "Read/Write" access and "Mom" with "Read" access only. I have Guest Account privileges set to "Read Only". It has been this way for (2) years.
3. Under "Get Info" in Finder, the only account listed is "everyone" with "read" permission only (this is same as Guest Acount in Airport Utility). I am unable to add new accounts because I get error message "The account name is not valid" even though I am using the account name that I am logged in under.
4. I can change the Permissions on the "everyone" account (in Finder) by changing the permissions on the "Guest Account" in Airport Utility. When I do this, "everyone" in Finder now has "read/write" access but my two accounts, "Dad" and "Mom still don't show up in Finder.
5. I also upgraded internal HDD to 1Tb and used Restore from Time Machine. I hhad problems with the restore and did new install of Snow Leopard.
Any ideas on how to make Finder show the two accounts I have set up in Airport Utility?

My apologies for bumping this but I still don't have a solution...any help would be greatly appreciated!

External HDD permissions differs from Mac and Win

I just bought an external Hard Drive LaCie which asked at the first setup if I was going to use it for Mac, Windows or both.
Of course, I picked both as I will be moving around with it.
I can read, write on Mac. However, I only can read on Bootcamp.
I was not able to change the permissions on the Windows side (right button on the HDD does not display me any permissions options like mentionned in my research).
In my permissions on Mac, everything in Read & Write.
PLEASE HELP, it has been driving me crazy
Cheers,
PacoSG

Easy fix, this will erase everything on it no other way
Connect to OSX, open disk utility, select external drive on left hand side
Click partition tab, select 1 under options - this is KEY - change to MBR
Format will be exfat
Run it

Fix messed up permissions on external HDD?

I've got an external HDD that I've been using with tons of macs. It now has plenty of old and new folders from different locations that come from various users/macs.
Deleteing or moving files, depending on the folder, sometimes requires a password. I guess the files permissions are messy or inconsistent.
What's the best practice to get everything back to a simple and clean state? I'm looking for the default thing: all files read & write by anyone who connect the drive to their mac.
1 TB WD Elements USB 3.0 / 2.5"
Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
Thanks for any advice!

Get Info on the drive and check the box to ignore ownership on the drive. That will ignore the permissions structure on the drive.
If you want to keep permissions, but reset them all, set them in the Permissions section of the Get Info window. Then, click the gear button and select "apply to enclosed."

External HDD locked, can't repair permissions or create folder at root

After having to do an archive and install as mac mini stuck in start-up, start-up not finished, start start-up again loop I am experiencing bizarre problem. Spend 3 days on this and now just 2 hours with Apple Support. Since the archive and install the 3 partitions of my external HDD all have a padlock on them. Tried many things including checking permissions from install disk or from usual start-up disk and even logged in as root user. At the root level it is not possible to create a new folder or trash items or to move anything to this level. At lower directory levels you can. Clicking on Get info for each partition shows the same thing. It says just above the name box that I can read only, yet by my name says I can read and write. However, selecting anything other than read and write does not stick, it ignores the request. At the sub directory level it says my privileges are custom. Logged in as a root user, I tried to move something to the root level of the HDD. It asked me to authenticate but even after doing that said I had insufficient privileges!
Please someone help. Apple support has had to escalate now. Their comment was "I've never heard of such a sever issue with permissions."
In the mean time I have limited control over my external HDD.
thanks
D

Hopefully you can help me out here as well V.K.
I had to reformat my Mac and now can only read my external drive. I have tried everything. Here is the response I get to running:
sudo chflags nouchg /My Book II
chflags: /Volumes/My Book II: Read-only file system.
I can read files, but when I try to delete them I get a error -67 code.I also cannot write to my external.
Thanks

Permissions External HDD

Hey guys,
I have an external HDD with all my music on it. Now I leave it plugged into my iMac, butlet my house mate use my imac but with his account. How can I have it so he just doesnt enter the external drive with his account and copy music, that I have bought into his account and burn disc etc...
Thanks

Right click the external drive icon, and select Get Info. Under Ownership & Permissions, make sure the "Ignore ownership" box is not checked. Also make sure your house mate's account is not an admin account.
This allows only very limited security. It won't stop him from bring over his laptop, plugging your external drive into it, and accessing everything that way. Encryption is your only way to protect against that.

Permissions and problems with external HDD

Starting today I have been unable to copy anything to my 1T Seagate FA GoFlex external HDD. I can access the drive, I can copy files FROM the drive back to my Mac Mini, but I cannot copy anything to the drive. Whenever I try to copy anything I get the error "The operation can’t be completed because an unexpected error occurred (error code -50)." I have spent the last four hours doing an exhaustive search, and have tried every solution I've come.
Somehow, over the last few days, something has happened to change this external HDD--the permissions and possibly the format. I have been in Disk Utility and am unable to repair. I have tried accessing Disk Utility from startup and am unable to repair. I have also copied the content off of the HDD and have tried to reformat the drive, but I'm getting an error when I try this as well.
When I tried to verify the disk I got this error:
When I tried to repair the disk I got this error:
After copying all of the important files to other drives, I attempted to reformat and got this error:
Then I tried the secure option and got this error:
I did notice that when I click on the Erase tab, the format shows as "Mac OS Extended" but when I click on the RAID tab the format shows "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)". Shouldn't these match?
I have been using this external HDD for several years now and have never had a problem. This does coincide with the copying of some .mp3 files. Could this be the culprit? (I was unable to remove one zip folder of these mp3 files.)
The permissions for this external HDD seem out of whack as well:
It states "You can only read" but the admin account "MiniMel (Me)" sholws Read & Write.
I am completely stumped and irritated. Is there any help for this HDD or is it just failing? It was no where near capacity. Could the mp3 files have caused the problem? I think this is unlikely, the the timing is coincidental. Should I worry about this happening to the other external HDD and my HD where I copied the files so I could reformat?
Any and all help is greatly appreciated.

Thank you for your reply.
I tried that last night. When I tried to verify the disk from startup, I received this message:
when I tried to repair the disk I received this message:
After the second message, I moved what I needed off the external HDD and tried to reformat. Which led to the errors in my OP. So frustrating.
Message was edited by: web-betty (replaced screenshots)

How can I migrate an Aperture library from an external HDD with Mac OS Extended (Journaled, Encrypted) format?

How can I migrate an Aperture library from an external HDD with Mac OS Extended (Journaled, Encrypted) format?
I used to store my pictures on an external hard drive using the latest version of Aperture. Now I tried migrating my Aperture library to Photos. However, after a short moment an error message popped up telling me that "Photos was unable to make a copy of your library before preparing it. Photos does not have the necessary permissions...".
My external HDD doesn't need any permission repairs nor is the system prohibited to read from or write to it.
Thanks for any advice in advance!
Gohtac

My guess is that the encryption is the problem for the new app.

Error code 50 when copying from TC to external HDD

Hi all, I bought a 3tb TC and backed up about 1.3tb worth of data onto it from an external HDD, I then formatted the external HDD to FAT 32 as I found out that TC does not like to work with FAT 32, no matter, the hard drive ois fixed now. However, when I go to copy all the data back onto the external HDD. i get "an unnexcpected error occured error code -50" or something like that, but the error code is definetly 50. I got this error when trying to copy the movies through, they are MKV files, I checked all the names and I dont think there are any problems with them.
the setup so far is as follows. Externall HDD --USB--> Time capsule. All operations are being executed through an imac.
HELP ASAP will be greatly appreciated.
Cheers

Error codes are really hard to figure out.. but i think it will be due to permissions.
See http://pondini.org/TM/C10.html
It is an error from TM but I think it comes from underlying OS..
Can you copy files to this disk from a source other than the TC.. try copying a file from the TC to the Mac and then from Mac to the external disk.. but make sure it is plugged directly into the mac.. if you have issues look carefully at permission. And format/partition type.. do use GUID partition not MBR Or the older Apple systems.
Re: Error Code-50 when trying to copy or delete files on external hard drive

HT1178 External HDD no files when attached to TIME CAPSULE

Hi all, I have a question and I don't know if this is an issue or I am missing something, when i try to attached an external HDD with some files on, it does not show the files, but I can access the share from the shared drives on my mac normally and create new files easily.
And note when I deattach the external and attach it on my mac, it show everything, the old files and the new one i added through the network .
I am really confused. I need help in this regards

Thanks dear for your reply, actually I am not that good in permissions, just I knew the Basics which are the user, group, others and SUID, GUID and Sticky Bit. I did chmod 7777 on the folder locally before attaching it to the Time Capsule, but I still have the same issue.
You said it is permission and it makes sense to me. Just I want to know if there is a way to grant permission over network, maybe this is related to NFS.
But here in my Senario, I guess attaching a HDD is called SAN because the fs is normally JHFS+.
FYI, I did something else, I addedd the user that I created inside TC to the shared permission of the folder.. But still not solved.
I really need that setup to be done soon.
Any other suggestoins ?
Again, many thanks

WD My Passport External HDD in a Mac

Hey everyone. I want to know if it's possible for me to replace my 160GB HDD in my MacBook (Aluminium, Late 2008) with my WD My Passport 1TB External HDD? And if the answer is yes, how do I download and install Mountain Lion to it after the replacement? (I did a download and upgrade from Snow Leopard to Mountain Lion through the App Store) Thanks.

Here's the basic process:
How to replace or upgrade a drive in a laptop
Step One: Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions
Boot from your OS X Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Installer menu (Utilities menu for Tiger, Leopard or Snow Leopard.) After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the installer.
If DU reports errors it cannot fix, then you will need Disk Warrior and/or Tech Tool Pro to repair the drive. If you don't have either of them or if neither of them can fix the drive, then you will need to reformat the drive and reinstall OS X.
Step Two: Remove the old drive and install the new drive. Place the old drive in an external USB enclosure. You can buy one at OWC who is also a good vendor for drives.
Step Three: Boot from the external drive. Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager appears. Select the icon for the external drive then click on the downward pointing arrow button.
Step Four: New Hard Drive Preparation
1. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder.
2. After DU loads select your new hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Note the SMART status of the drive in DU's status area. If it does not say "Verified" then the drive is failing or has failed and will need replacing. Otherwise, click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.
4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
6. Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to several hours depending upon the drive size.
Step Five: Clone the old drive to the new drive
1. Open Disk Utility from the Utilities folder.
2. Select the destination volume from the left side list.
3. Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
4. Check the box labeled Erase destination.
5. Select the destination volume from the left side list and drag it to the Destination entry field.
6. Select the source volume from the left side list and drag it to the Source entry field.
7. Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.
Destination means the new internal drive. Source means the old external drive.
Step Six: Open the Startup Disk preferences and select the new internal volume. Click on the Restart button. You should boot from the new drive. Eject the external drive and disconnect it from the computer.

External HDD renames itself to ALL CAPS/adds "1" to name

Hey all. I'd like to consider myself an expert, but every expert runs into a new problem that they've never seen before. Ha.
Anyways, my cat renamed one of my external HDDs while I was at work to nothing (space bar I guess). So I see the issue when I get back home and rename it back. I try to name it back to "My Book" but after I do it renames itself to "MY BOOK." Upon further investigation it is actually naming itself to "My Book 1" but only showing the end user "MY BOOK."
Normally this wouldn't be an issue I could just name it something else and move on. But I have BackBlaze and it's already backed up at least 700GB of about 1000ishGB. If it's not named exactly back to "My Book" I will have to start my online backup all over again, and it's been backing up for MONTHS now, and it's not even done.
I checked permissions, I tried verify/repair, nothing. I was thinking some program had the hdd "in-use." but there really isn't. And I've relaunched Finder and rebooted the machine.
Thanks for any insight, I really appreciate it. I hope this was the best forum to post this topic in. Lettme know if I need to repost it. Thanks.

Enthwar wrote:
Hey all. I'd like to consider myself an expert, but every expert runs into a new problem that they've never seen before. Ha.
Anyways, my cat renamed one of my external HDDs while I was at work to nothing (space bar I guess). So I see the issue when I get back home and rename it back. I try to name it back to "My Book" but after I do it renames itself to "MY BOOK." Upon further investigation it is actually naming itself to "My Book 1" but only showing the end user "MY BOOK."
Normally this wouldn't be an issue I could just name it something else and move on. But I have BackBlaze and it's already backed up at least 700GB of about 1000ishGB. If it's not named exactly back to "My Book" I will have to start my online backup all over again, and it's been backing up for MONTHS now, and it's not even done.
I checked permissions, I tried verify/repair, nothing. I was thinking some program had the hdd "in-use." but there really isn't. And I've relaunched Finder and rebooted the machine.
Welcome to Apple's discussion groups. I'd say this is as good a section for your post as any.
This thread may explain your problem:
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=10813505
If so, dismount your external drive, then use the Finder menu item Go -> Go to Folder to visit "/Volumes" (without the quotes). Delete anything you see there with a name resembling your external drive.

Error -50 problems on external HDD

I am having intermittent problems backing up to a USB external HDD (via ChronoSync). After a couple of days of successful backups they start failing with error -50. When this happens I am unable to write anything to the HDD. Restarting the computer fixes the problem for a day or so, but then it happens again. I do not think that there are any physical problems with the drive or cable because the drive is partitioned (3 partitions) and another partition is used by SuperDuper to make bootable backups and has not failed.
I see messages like this in Console which may be related:
2/11/09 1:34:05 PM Disk Utility[58300] Verifying volume “WORK-430GB”
2/11/09 1:34:05 PM fseventsd[40] gzflush(/Volumes/WORK-430GB/.fseventsd/0000000001299f05) returned -1
2/11/09 1:34:05 PM fseventsd[40] disk logger: gzclose() failed (-1/22) removing all old log files in /Volumes/WORK-430GB/.fseventsd
2/11/09 1:34:06 PM fseventsd[40] failed to unlink old log file /Volumes/WORK-430GB/.fseventsd/0000000001299841 (Invalid argument)
2/11/09 1:34:06 PM fseventsd[40] failed to unlink old log file /Volumes/WORK-430GB/.fseventsd/0000000001299f05 (Invalid argument)
2/11/09 1:34:06 PM fseventsd[40] failed to create the uuid file /Volumes/WORK-430GB/.fseventsd/fseventsd-uuid
2/11/09 1:34:32 PM fseventsd[40] Events arrived for /Volumes/WORK-430GB after an unmount request! Re-initializing.
2/11/09 1:35:06 PM mds[34] (/Volumes/WORK-430GB/.Spotlight-V100/Store-V1/Stores/A85D1BB6-7321-4197-B51A-04 27BCA3790F)(Error) IndexCI in ContentIndexOpenBulk:Unclean shutdown of /Volumes/WORK-430GB/.Spotlight-V100/Store-V1/Stores/A85D1BB6-7321-4197-B51A-042 7BCA3790F/live.2.; needs recovery
2/11/09 1:35:52 PM fseventsd[40] disk logger: failed to open output file /Volumes/WORK-430GB/.fseventsd/0000000002993106 (Invalid argument). mount point /Volumes/WORK-430GB/.fseventsd
2/11/09 1:35:52 PM Disk Utility[58300] The volume WORK-430GB appears to be OK.
2/11/09 1:35:52 PM mds[34] (/Volumes/WORK-430GB/.Spotlight-V100/Store-V1/Stores/A85D1BB6-7321-4197-B51A-04 27BCA3790F)(Error) IndexCI in copyFileOrFd:error (22) opening 0.indexGroups
2/11/09 1:35:52 PM mds[34] (/Volumes/WORK-430GB/.Spotlight-V100/Store-V1/Stores/A85D1BB6-7321-4197-B51A-04 27BCA3790F)(Error) IndexCI in recoverIndex:Unrecoverable error: could not recover groups file (0.)
2/11/09 1:35:52 PM mds[34] (/Volumes/WORK-430GB/.Spotlight-V100/Store-V1/Stores/A85D1BB6-7321-4197-B51A-04 27BCA3790F)(Error) IndexCI in CIMetaInfoCreate:Tried to create index when index already existed /Volumes/WORK-430GB/.Spotlight-V100/Store-V1/Stores/A85D1BB6-7321-4197-B51A-042 7BCA3790F
2/11/09 1:42:15 PM Disk Utility[58300] Verifying volume “WORK-430GB”
2/11/09 1:43:51 PM Disk Utility[58300] The volume WORK-430GB appears to be OK.
2/11/09 1:43:51 PM mds[34] (/Volumes/WORK-430GB/.Spotlight-V100/Store-V1/Stores/A85D1BB6-7321-4197-B51A-04 27BCA3790F)(Error) IndexCI in ContentIndexOpenBulk:Unclean shutdown of /Volumes/WORK-430GB/.Spotlight-V100/Store-V1/Stores/A85D1BB6-7321-4197-B51A-042 7BCA3790F/live.2.; needs recovery
2/11/09 1:43:51 PM mds[34] (/Volumes/WORK-430GB/.Spotlight-V100/Store-V1/Stores/A85D1BB6-7321-4197-B51A-04 27BCA3790F)(Error) IndexCI in copyFileOrFd:error (22) opening 0.indexGroups
2/11/09 1:43:51 PM mds[34] (/Volumes/WORK-430GB/.Spotlight-V100/Store-V1/Stores/A85D1BB6-7321-4197-B51A-04 27BCA3790F)(Error) IndexCI in recoverIndex:Unrecoverable error: could not recover groups file (0.)
2/11/09 1:43:51 PM mds[34] (/Volumes/WORK-430GB/.Spotlight-V100/Store-V1/Stores/A85D1BB6-7321-4197-B51A-04 27BCA3790F)(Error) IndexCI in CIMetaInfoCreate:Tried to create index when index already existed /Volumes/WORK-430GB/.Spotlight-V100/Store-V1/Stores/A85D1BB6-7321-4197-B51A-042 7BCA3790F
2/11/09 1:48:15 PM ctask[59236] Copy Operation Error: -50
Description: paramErr. error in user parameter list.
Path: /Volumes/WORK-430GB
Stage: 3
2/11/09 1:48:15 PM [0x0-0x19019].com.cocoatech.PathFinder[244] Path: /Volumes/WORK-430GB
and also these messages:
2/11/09 1:40:04 PM fseventsd[40] failed to unlink old log file /Volumes/Boot-300GB/.fseventsd/00000000028bce91 (Invalid argument)
2/11/09 1:40:04 PM fseventsd[40] failed to unlink old log file /Volumes/Boot-300GB/.fseventsd/00000000028dd237 (Invalid argument)
2/11/09 1:40:04 PM fseventsd[40] failed to create the uuid file /Volumes/Boot-300GB/.fseventsd/fseventsd-uuid
2/11/09 1:41:36 PM fseventsd[40] client 0x83de00 watching dev 234881029 but it has no path! ()
2/11/09 1:41:36 PM fseventsd[40] client 0x828800 watching dev 234881030 but it has no path! ()
Any suggestions about how to narrow this down will be appreciated. ChronoSync tech support is getting tired of trying to help me and I suspect that it is a Leopard problem.

Try repairing disk permissions.
Launch Disk Utility. (Applications/Utilities) Select MacintoshHD in the panel on the left, select FirstAid, then click: Repair Disk Permissions. Quit DU when it's finished and reboot.
And check here: What to do if your computer won't recognize a FireWire or USB device
*" ChronoSync tech support is getting tired of trying to help me and I suspect that it is a Leopard problem. "* Since ChronoSync wrote this software. If it's not Leopard compatible then Apple isn't responsible. Might be able to get more support here: http://www.econtechnologies.com/pages/support/support_faq.html
Carolyn

Is it possible that iMac corrupts connected external hdd-s drive via USB?

Is it possible that iMac corrupts connected external hdd-s drive via USB? (two wd cav. green 2tb from different purchase went down in one day, both from the backside usb ports)
First one of my video storage hdd, full of files suddenly got extremely slow, and a few minutes later, it unmounted itself, but with the unmount error, but nobody even touched the cables, electricity etc. When I tried to mount it again, it did not respond, just give a periodical load light and ticking. First I thought it must be hardware failure, but since I bought a brand new drive today and it made the same problem as soon as I tried to format it. I got suspicious. The consol, said about these - i googled all but now solution so far. (WesternFresh is my drive)
Oct 23 17:10:58 xxxx fseventsd[47]: disk logger: failed to open output file /Volumes/WesternFresh/.fseventsd/636573acca1d6550 (No such file or directory). mount point /Volumes/WesternFresh/.fseventsd
Oct 24 10:55:42 xxxx com.apple.kextd[10]: Can't create kext cache under / - owner not root.
Oct 24 17:23:05 tmdc diskarbitrationd[16]: unable to probe /dev/disk1 (status code 0xFFFFFFFA).
and there was an I/O faliure not but it was on another mac - where i hoped itt will come back to live.
I think - if it is possible - that the OS maybe misunderstand something about these drives, and try to change - maybe permissions - all the time if a usb external connects...? (I am not really into it as you see )
Also about Disk Utility - it does not see any partition on the old hdd, but i shows the name of the product. If I connect the new hdd via the keyboard usb, the disk utility is able to see and format it, but the hdd will be still slow and tikking after it.
Also I tried Disk Warrior (freezd out) and Techtool Pro 6 thanks to some ol'frineds - which also not saw the old hdd, but did nothing useful with the new one.
About cav green: I have 3 of them and no error so far, and got 4 1tb cav green in 2 mybook studio II also without any problem.
Iam a bit scared, and try not to plug in any usb hdd-s now, but I have to continue work, so I need solutions.
I hope if it is not hardware failure, maybe some tricky terminal code will bring back the viability of my old hdd - and I won't have to spend a lot of money to recover data.
strange.
if anybody has a clue?
update 1:
i found this post also:
https://discussions.apple.com/message/15905481#15905481
I also made the mentioned steps - but it is a bit different sice it reproduce itself and I cant use DU.

It turned out that WD is the big bad guy in this game.
According the data rescue company where I asked for an inspection, both of the drives had their reader head loose. And in the one, which was my already-in-use disk its even damaged the platters... xxxxx
So its time to pay bunch of money to recover, and take a walk to wd service to bang on the desk.
Also note - it may be somehow related to intellispeed technology - since macs not really friendly with wd-s built-in solutions.
On the other hand, with WD GP 1Tb there is no problems at all for ages.
thanks guys, thread is closed

How do I copy a TM backup to an external HDD with an existing TM backup (for another machine)?

Hi,
My question relates to the use of Time Machine for two different Macs ... I have two Macs: a MacBook Pro (ML) and an iMac (SL). I use Time Machine for both.
Unfortunately, the external HDD (A) drive I use for the backup of my MacBook Pro is on the way out. I am now in a situation where I need to copy this Time Machine backup to another external HDD (B) which I use for the backup of my iMac.
I have decided that I would like to use external HDD B for all future backups of both machines from now on. It is a 2Tb LaCie drive with one partition. Therefore, I would like to copy the Time Machine backup data from external HDD A to external HDD B. Since both TM files/directories have identical names, I am looking for some advice of how to do this without 'deactivating' any of the backups or corrupting them, or screwing with permissions.
In case this is known to be problemmatic, would it be 'better practice' to partition the external 2Tb HDD drive into two partitions, then just use one partition for each backup? Is there an advantage/disadvantage to partitioning the drive? Will this approach make it 'less confusing for Time Machine' and reduce potential problems?
Any advice would be great!
Thanks,
Mark.

Don't bother trying to copy a TM backup file. Just connect the other good drive to your MBP and create a new full TM backup on that drive. I do suggest you create a separate partition on that good drive for each Mac you will be backing up to it.

External HDD - Permissions

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