How to repair disk permissions inside Time Machine?

I need to restore my .sites file for iWeb from Time Machine, but when I try I get the following error:
"The operation can't be completed because you don't have permission to access some of the items." What IS restored are a few (10 or so) .jpg files that were part of my site that once contained thousands of pictures, dozens of movies, and three years of work. The file details inside Time Machine ("Quick View") is 972MB, but again -- what is actually restored is only about 10 pics of a mb each.
Does anyone know how to repair disk permissions for a file inside Time Machine? In Disk Utility the button to repair permissions is grayed out when I select Time Machine volume.
Much thanks in advance!

I have the same issue (and circumvented it by copying the files with "cp" from the unix shell). The permissions on the TM disk don't really look wrong, and the fact that I can copy the files means that they aren't read protected.
There seems to be some serious bug in Time Machine here, my guess is that the TM restore operation somehow does things in the wrong order (like copying with preserved access lists to a temporary location and then try to move the files from there. This won't work since the files will be protected with access lists from accidental removal on the TM disk).
More discussion in this thread:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2164188

Similar Messages

10.5.6: Problems with disk permissions after Time Machine restore

HELP!
This is the second time this is happening to me-- I restored my 10.5.6 system fully from a Time Machine backup, and now the disk permissions, as far as I can tell, are completely screwed up.
I have not turned off my system since the restore, for fear that it won't start up again (as was the case the last time I did this). When I try to repair disk permissions in the Disk Utility app, I get the error message "The underlying task reported failure on exit."
Generally, the system does not have access to certain folders (most, if not all of them, actually).
For example, Safari can't use plugins.
I'm not asking why this is happening, I just want to know what I should do to avoid having to reinstall 10.5.5, update it to 10.5.6, and put all of my files back, because all my settings would be deleted if I chose that option.
I'm not going to turn off my computer until I fix this, because I know it will never startup--
again.
DUN DUN DUN...
So please help me, and thank you kindly,
SeanDaBomb

SeanDaBomb wrote:
I repaired permissions, updated prebindings, cleaned user caches and cleaned archived logs almost every single day before I restored my system. I was trying out this theme changer for Leopard that was unable to undo its (ugly) work. I think the problem might be that I restored the system from my 10.5.5 install disk (yes, in the Utilities menu, the Restore From Backup option).
Using a 10.5.5 install disc doesn't matter, as you didn't actually load anything from it, just used it's installer to do the restore from TM.
So you selected a previous backup, from before all the trouble started, right?
My backup drive's condition is alright, so I doubt that I restored corrupted files.
Everything now on your system came from your TM drive.
I'd suggest booting from your Leopard Install disk, and using it's copy of Disk Utility to do a +Repair Disk+ on your internal HD, then a +Repair Permissions.+

Upgraded using Snow Leopard 10.6.3 & now running 10.6.8. How to repair Disk Permissions?

Is it true that running Disk Permission Repair from the original 10.6.3 Snow Leopard disk will not properly repair my hard drive curently running 10.6.8? If it is true, how can I properly repair disk permissions in 10.6.8 if it's counter-productive to boot from the 10.6.3 disk? My MBP is a September 2006 model.
Thanks, Thor

If you mean repair permissions, run it from the Mac OS X 10.6.8 system without rebooting.
If you mean repair disk, restart from the computer's original thumbdrive or Mac OS X install DVD, and if that doesn't work, with the Shift key held down to quietly run the repair utility.
(71911)

Time machine back up fails unless I repair disk permissions each time first

I am running OSX Lion ver 10.7.5 and have had no problems using time machine. Recently I started getting "locating backup disk" and then a window "time machine failed to access sparse bundle error -1" and Time Machine doesn't complete the backup. I have discovered that if a I do a disk permission or even start a disk permission repair on my mac first then time machine will work normally and backup.
Also when i do a disk permission repair it always "repairs" the same errors in the iTunes directory, a bunch of nib files are reset to be listed as directories….not sure what changed in iTunes for this
Does anyone have any Ideas?

I am running OSX Lion ver 10.7.5 and have had no problems using time machine. Recently I started getting "locating backup disk" and then a window "time machine failed to access sparse bundle error -1" and Time Machine doesn't complete the backup. I have discovered that if a I do a disk permission or even start a disk permission repair on my mac first then time machine will work normally and backup.
Also when i do a disk permission repair it always "repairs" the same errors in the iTunes directory, a bunch of nib files are reset to be listed as directories….not sure what changed in iTunes for this
Does anyone have any Ideas?

Using Disk Utility's Repair Disk Command with Time Machine

I'm trying to figure out whether or not I can use Disk Utility's Repair Disk command on a Time Machine volume. Time machine is taking a very long time to finalize its backups. I don't know if there are directory issues that need to be addressed or if it's due to the very large size of the directory. I've been using Time Machine on this computer since last January and the Time Machine directory takes up over 7 GB of disk space! It's so large that DiskWarrior will no longer work on that volume. DiskWarrior has a limit of 4 GB. I can't be the only one in this situation. I don't want my Time Machine backup to get hopelessly corrupted and then have to start agin. I'm trying to be proactive about correcting any issues before they become serious.

Jon
So far I haven't a clue as to what is wrong, so until a person stumbles in here with one, maybe you could amuse me with as to how you figured how much space the "catalog" is taking. I surely see nothing funny going on my system, although my Time Machine volume is smaller than yours and I might not be looking in all the right places.

20 minutes to Repair Disk Permissions. Every time.

In trying to diagnose some other issues, I have had to repair disk permissions several times over the past week. Each time I have run it, it was 15 minutes before it was finished and each time (if I remember correctly) I have been met with a slew of messages like this one:
Group differs on "Applications/Utilities/Disk Utility.app/Contents/Frameworks/DUSupport.framework/Versions/Current", should be 80, group is 0.
I cannot remember if the "should be" was always 80, but the "group is" was always 0. Does anyone have some insight on this one? Is this bad? I can't say that I get any sense from the message that permissions were repaired. I do not know if the files in question have been the same each time or not.

repair permissions takes much longer in leopard. 20 minutes is quite normal on your hardware. I think that group difference message is harmless and can be ignored but you can change the group on Disk utility and other apps if you want to.
The group on everything in the Applications folder should be admin (gid=80).
Run the following command in terminal
*sudo chgrp -R admin /Applications*
you'll have to enter you admin password (which you won't see) that's normal.

Have to check & repair disk permissions on every restart

Can anyone explain why I have to check & repair disk permissions every time I have to restart my MacBook Pro. When I do the check I get various messages eg 'Library should be '0', is '80'. And other variations for Library.

I'd do one/more of a few things.
First, (and not only good for this exercise), I'd back up to a Super Duper or Carbon Copy Cloner clone - on an external disc, and/or use Time Machine.
Next step, boot in Safe mode and see how things are.
Next, create another account with similar permissions to the one you are using now. If the problem persists in this account also it is system wide.
Next boot from the clone you made and see what gives..........

Need advice on Repairing Disk Permissions...

I need some input from those who know how to Repair Disk Permissions (under Disk Utility, for those who don't know).
Basically, I lost a TON of my Access and Privileges on my G4 recently--which I really only noticed after iTunes would no longer let me import anything (no matter how many times I tried changing the Ownership & Permissions on my Music folder's Info section)--which, I might add, I suffered due to a virus caused by Limewire. As had been suggested to me, I Verified Disk Permissions, and saw that I had a TON of problems listed on my startup HD. So I'm now seeking ways to repair them.
Now, the most obvious way is using the Repair Disk Permissions program (which I've actually never had to use before). However, under OS10.3.9, when I select the Repair Disk Permissions on Disk Utility, in listing all my Drives available, it actually shows the drive in 2 formats/pictures:
1) the actual technical name/manufactor model/GB size of the drive (on top), and
2) the Desktop name and Icon picture of the Drive as it appears on my desktop.
This confuses me: as you can guess, the startup Drive in question is only partioned as one. So on Disk Utility, which of these 2 pictured drives do I have to highlight and Repair Disk Permissions to (i.e. 19GB Maxtor32049 Vs. 'HAL')?
Also, for those of you who have used other means (programs) to change Disk Permissions, which would you recommend? For example, I got a program from Versiontracker called BatCHmod, but I don't know if something like it is any safer than just using Repair Disk Permissions. Because unfortunately, I'm running out of room on my disk, and don't have nearly enough space on my other drive to hope to back the whole Drive up to.
Please help!!!

Hi phasmatrope!
TO REPAIR PERMISSIONS ON THE STARTUP DISK
1.Open Disk Utility, located in Applications/Utilities, and select the startup disk HAL, in the left column.
2.Click First Aid.
3.Click Verify Disk Permissions to test permissions or Repair Disk Permissions to test and repair permissions. (I never "Verify". Just run "Repair".)
Rerun RP until the only message it reports is:
"We are using special permissions for the file or directory ./System/Library/Filesystems/cd9660.fs/cd9660.util.
New permissions are 33261"
This is a status message and not a cause for concern. You may safely ignore it.
Or these:
"We are using a special uid for the file or directory ./private/var/at/jobs. New uid is 1"
"We are using a special uid for the file or directory ./private/var/at/spool. New uid is 1"
Again, these are status messages, which appeared after Security Update 2005-001.
There may be others that you can ignore. Complete lists at link below.
Spurious Permissions Errors In 10.3.x
When "Repair Permissions" is complete. Quit "Disk Utility".
Good Luck!
ali b

Trying to download a game purchase (Company App Store. Have taken advice from Aspyr Customer Service to repair Disk Permissions, but still download aborts...any suggestions?

Trying to download game purchase (Company of Heroes) from App Store. Failed in mid-download several times. Aspyr Customer Services have shown me how to repair Disk Permissions, but still won't download... any suggestions, please?

Thanks for suggestions. I did use Energy Saver settings, and I did check downloading another app. Last night I tried another download of Company of Heroes, got up to 4GB before bedtime, woke up this morning to find another "error has occurred" message. Extremely frustrating. Have used most of my monthly data allowance on abortive downloads. Maybe Apple made a mistake in relying on huge data downloads. DVDs more reliable!

How can I repair disk permissions

How can I repair disk permissions on a non boot drive? I have a SSD as my boot disk and a HD as a storage drive. The permissions are not correct on th HD and in disk util the option for fixing the permissions is ghosted out. I really would hate to do this one folder at a time.
Thanks

FYI, BB
Below is a quote from Apple describing what Disk Permissions deals with.
If you still need assistance, please describe what problem/issue you are trying to solve.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1452
"Many things you install in Mac OS X are installed from package files (whose filename extension is ".pkg"). Each time something is installed from a package file, a "Bill of Materials" file (whose filename extension is ".bom") is stored in the package's receipt file, which is kept in /Library/Receipts/ in Mac OS X v10.5 and earlier. These files don't take up much disk space and you shouldn't put them in the Trash. Each of those ".bom" files contains a list of the files installed by that package, and the proper permissions for each file.
Does Disk Utility check permissions on all files?
Files that aren't installed as part of an Apple-originated installer package are not listed in a receipt and therefore are not checked. For example, if you install an application using a non-Apple installer application, or by copying it from a disk image, network volume, or other disk instead of installing it via Installer, a receipt file isn't created."
Is this what you want to "fix"?

My Time machine won't back up. Recently updated to OS x 10.7.5. Error message is as follows: "The backup disk image "/Volumes/Time Machine Backup/Scott's MacBook Pro.sparsebundle" is already in use." What is wrong and how do I fix it? Thanks.

My Time machine won't back up. Recently updated to OS x 10.7.5. Error message is as follows: "The backup disk image “/Volumes/Time Machine Backup/Scott’s MacBook Pro.sparsebundle” is already in use." What is wrong and how do I fix it? Thanks.

Have you tried restarting the computer? Also, see Time Machine Error from this pages sidebar under More Like This.

I ran repair disk permissions an all my photos in aperture are gone. How can I get them back?

I ran repair disk permissions an all my photos in aperture are gone. How can I get them back?

If you've turned on "Find my iPhone" on the device you can track its location at iCloud. The device must be powered on and have internet access to be located.
Doubtful you ever backed up your "camera roll" to iCloud but you may have backed it up to your computer via iTunes. You can "restore" that backup to your new iOS device but you can't view the contents of that backup and pick out pieces of it.

Repair Disk Permissions Issues

I'm not sure I am posting this in the correct community but here goes . . .
I have a 17" Macbook Pro running the latest version of Snow Leopard. It is almost 2 years old and I have 4 gb RAM.
Recently, it seems to be slowing down and I have to run repair disk permissions 2-3 times a week to recoup a little speed. I also delete my Firefox cache regularly to try to gain a little there. I do make a few videos in iMovie and initially I thought that was the problem but this week I have not really worked in iMovie much and it is still slow. There seems to be some issues in the log of the repair permissions. I hope they show in this image. I don't know what these mean or how to fix them. It is the "permissions differ" entries I am confused about.

You can ignore those permissions per support article
http://support.apple.com/kb/TA21090
Since you brought up iMove, I suspect your storage is nearly full as this most certainly causes the computer to slow down. video files are the biggest culprit.
Look in your Activity Monitor and reduce the drive space by copying to a external, Disk Utility HFS+ formatted external powered drive of unnecessary files so your boot drive is ideally below 50% filled (yea I know but the computer slows down after that) and not more than 75% filled.
Once you have done that. Get another newer external powered HFS drive and download the free Carbon Copy Cloner and clone the internal drive to the external.
Hold option and boot off the external clone, test it out then use Disk Utility to erase the internal and then reverse clone the external onto the internal, this will defragment and optimize your drive so the OS and programs are on the fast part of the drive, not the slow parts.
Reboot into the internal and run off of the free OnyX's maintainence and cleaning aspects and reboot.
http://www.titanium.free.fr/
Sir speedy machine here we come!
Now of course you may have other issues that could be causing your slow down, like not enough RAM or some sort of failed process or leftover program, tweaks or simply a slow Internet.
You can opt to simply reinstall OS X 10.6 ( by holding c and booting off the installer disk ) over your installed version (doesn't touch files or programs) then immediatly Software Updating until clear, that will clean anything hanging out in OS X.
If you still have slowdowns, then it's in what geeks call "User land" basically something installed outside of root, like a program or only runs in user, not in OS X.
For that you need to create a new user, transfer your files via the Shared Drop and wean yourself off the old user and finally delete it. Also install all new versions of your third party programs removing the originals first.
That should do it.

Repair Disk Permissions utility stalled - I have read the knowledge base

I have researched the knowledge base and search for posts on this and cannot find answer: Running 10.4 at the latest version. used the original install 1 disc I received with Tiger to repair disc permissions (like Apple support has told me to do in the past, but my current research said I do not need to do this unless certain parameters are met, and none of the parameters applied, but oh well, I am here anyway). Cold Boot from the original install disc 1 and slected the start up disk I use (I only have one start up disc/drive). Did a repair disc permissions and got a long running routine that reporting a lot of fixes, then the utility has stalled -- no progress on the progress bar. I "stopped" the process using the "stop repair" button (three times). The log reflected the utility stopped, but the progress bar still is blue and not moving (for a couple of hours). When I go to quity File >Disk Utility, it warns me that Disk Utility is running and this may make my system unstable/unsuable.
QUESTION: CAN I JUST QUIT DISK UTILITY AND NOT HAVE ANY ADVERSE AFFECT ON MY IMAC DRIVE?

Thanks for your advice, I still have an issue:
-after the first repair disk permission "stalled" process, I exited Disk Utility and cold booted the machine after I had disconnected all external devices other than the original iMac keyboard
-obtained the combo patch for 10.4.7 from the Apple download site (it had already been installed but I reinstalled per your advice)
-re-applied the combo patch and then did another cold boot
-ran Disk Utility from the original Tiger install #1 disk, and then selected "repair disk permissions" for my start up disk (I only have one)
- process ran for 10 minutes or so then gave the following error message: "Disk Utility Error: Disk Utility has lost its connection with disk utility management tool and cannot continue. Please quit disk utility and re-launch disk utility"
- I pushed the "stop disk permission repair" button, then quit disk utility, then cold booted the machine again.
-re-applied combo patch as above, then cold booted the machine
-ran disk utility from the original iMac install #1 disk, ran "repair disk permissions", and then received the same error message as above.
- I then just quit Disk Utility and cold booted the machine again and went about my business. There does not seem to be any problem with the machine (was not before, but I ran repair permissions thinkging this was a routine maintenance taks that should be run)
- in my prior search of the knowledge base, I found the following information about repair disk permissions:
Location: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=607495&#607495
How often should I Repair Permissions?
You do not need to Repair Permissions on a regular basis.
There are only three occasions you need to do this:
1. When you have just installed something that required you to run an Installer, rather than just copying some software to a folder. This should be done for both Apple and non-Apple software.
2. When you have been working on your OS X files or folders while booted from OS 9, or remotely connected via a non-OS X machine, since OS 9 and other systems do not handle OS X's permissions correctly.
3. The other case is if your system is behaving strangely, when you should run Disk Repair from your CD followed by Repair Permissions. This is just to eliminate these things before going on to further trouble-shooting.
Otherwise you can happily forget about Permissions!"
So, it would appear I do not need to do anything else; the machine seems to be working properly. Is there anything else I need to do? thanks for the help! Bob

Verify Disk failed for Time Machine backup disk

Thread <http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=7930301&#7930301> discussed a similar issue, but it was closed without an answer so I'm opening a new one.
After a power failure I ran Disk Utility to Repair Permissions on my boot disk and Verify Disk on another that I use to store media files; neither had significant problems. Then I ran Verify Disk (verify, not repair; and disk, not permissions) on my Time Machine backup disk. It started spitting out the errors shown below. The time remaining counted up to 16 minutes, but wasn't coming down very fast so I left it running overnight. My machine is set to not sleep or spin down the disks. The next evening it was down to 12 minutes left, and was still spitting out the same errors. The second evening it was done, having failed out as shown in this log file excerpt:
2009-06-20 22:25:48 -0400: Verifying volume “Backup”
Starting verification tool: 2009-06-20 22:25:48 -0400
2009-06-20 22:25:50 -0400: Checking Journaled HFS Plus volume.
2009-06-20 22:25:50 -0400: Checking Extents Overflow file.
2009-06-20 22:25:50 -0400: Checking Catalog file.
2009-06-20 22:35:21 -0400: Checking multi-linked files.
2009-06-20 23:08:17 -0400: Checking Catalog hierarchy.
2009-06-20 23:16:59 -0400: Checking Extended Attributes file.
2009-06-20 23:18:34 -0400: Checking multi-linked directories.
2009-06-20 23:31:05 -0400: 2009-06-20 23:31:05 -0400: Incorrect owner flags for directory hard link (id = 3763501)
2009-06-20 23:31:05 -0400: 2009-06-20 23:31:05 -0400: 2009-06-20 23:31:05 -0400: (It should be 0x2 instead of 0x0)
2009-06-22 15:14:54 -0400: 2009-06-22 15:14:57 -0400: Incorrect owner flags for directory hard link (id = 7746623)
2009-06-22 15:14:59 -0400: 2009-06-22 15:15:00 -0400: 2009-06-22 15:15:02 -0400: (It should be 0x2 instead of 0x0)
2009-06-22 15:20:35 -0400: Checking volume bitmap.
2009-06-22 15:20:37 -0400: Checking volume information.
2009-06-22 15:20:39 -0400: 2009-06-22 15:20:41 -0400: The volume Backup needs to be repaired.
2009-06-22 15:20:43 -0400: Error: Filesystem verify or repair failed.2009-06-22 15:20:44 -0400:
2009-06-22 15:20:44 -0400: Disk Utility stopped verifying “Backup” because the following error was encountered:
Filesystem verify or repair failed.
At that point the whole system was extremely sluggish, and the access light on the backup disk was flashing steadily. The pmTool process seemed to be running away, but the system wasn't responsive enough for me to do much about it, so I held down the power button to shutdown. Upon the 2nd restart the system booted and seems to be OK, but I'm leery of running another Verify Disk.
What's going on? Are those errors anything to worry about? Is it possible to run Verify Disk on a Time Machine backup disk? What about Repair Disk?

John Seal wrote:
2009-06-22 15:20:43 -0400: Error: Filesystem verify or repair failed.2009-06-22 15:20:44 -0400:
2009-06-22 15:20:44 -0400: Disk Utility stopped verifying “Backup” because the following error was encountered:
Filesystem verify or repair failed.
At that point the whole system was extremely sluggish, and the access light on the backup disk was flashing steadily. The pmTool process seemed to be running away, but the system wasn't responsive enough for me to do much about it, so I held down the power button to shutdown.
Any time Disk Utility says you need to repair a disk, you need to repair it. Period.
So run it. If it fails to repair everything, run it again (and again) until it either repairs everything or can't repair any more. If it can't repair it, post back and we'll discuss options.
There's no point in running +Verify Disk+ on an external drive; just run +Repair Disk.+ The only time +Verify Disk+ is needed is for your internal HD (because you can't repair the disk you're running from).
And you need to do that again because of the forced power-down. Any time there's an abnormal shutdown, it's possible the file system on your internal HD can be damaged. Usually it isn't, but it's possible. If that says you need to repair it, you'll have to boot from your Leopard Install disc and use it's copy of DU. Post back if you need to do this but don't know how.

How to repair disk permissions inside Time Machine?

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