Permissions Issue, Colour Wheel, Hard Drive Issue??

Question

Hi!
I have had issues with my mid 2009 MBP recently and I'm wondering what the best way to fix them would be. 
First off, I have some major permissions issues with my accounts.  I am using 3 different users regualrly on the same machine and needed to access files from the home folder so I changed them a long time ago, and am not sure how to fix that.  I have repaired the permissions countless times in the disk utility and it seems like there's always loads more to do each time.  When I varify the disk, it says its all okay.
Secondly, I have had the machine freeze on me several times while doing very little on it.  This happened awhile ago, and thought that it was just the permisions thing and so I did that again, and it started working better, for awhile.  It would go a few days or weeks before doing the same thing, sometimes not even getting past the apple logo on startup before freezing.  This makes me think it may be a hard drive issue???????
This morning, I tried dozens of times to boot, with no success at all.....  until about the 25th time when it miraculasly booted.  I have run permissions repair a few more times and it seems to be working okay at the moment, but the problem seems to be happening more often over time. 
To complicate matters, I am traveling at the moment and will not be home for several months.  I purchased an external harddrive last night and was able to successfully back up my data. 
Question 1: Is it the permissions that are causing these problems, or is it related to something else.  The computer seems to work fine when its working, and then once in awhile, decides its not going to do anything. 
Question 2:  Would upgrading to Lion (currently running 10.6.8) fix the permissions issues or just carry them forward?  I would like to consolidate the 3 users into one, if that would solve it.  Does the migration utility preserve permissions or does it give you a brand new start?
Question 3:  If neither solving the permissions or the OS upgrade would fix the problem and it does need a new harddrive, is it possible to buy one and install it myself?  I do not have apple care left on this machine and am on a very tight budget.  I am used to taking things apart and all that as part of my job and it seems simple enough.  Where can you buy a replacement?? 
Hopefully someone out there will be able to help me out on this one. 
Cheers!!!!
Brian

Answer 1

bgroot422 wrote:
First off, I have some major permissions issues with my accounts.  I am using 3 different users regularly on the same machine and needed to access files from the home folder so I changed them a long time ago, and am not sure how to fix that.  I have repaired the permissions countless times in the disk utility and it seems like there's always loads more to do each time.  When I verify the disk, it says its all okay.
Disk Utility permissions are separate from User account permissions.
This link is how to fix them
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2181549?start=0&tstart=0
Disk Utility will always show something to be needing repair, but that's ok
Apple supoort doc.
https://support.apple.com/kb/TS1448?locale=da_DK
Verify Disk is good, that's a good thing.
To complicate matters, I am traveling at the moment and will not be home for several months.  I purchased an external hard drive last night and was able to successfully back up my data. 
Your data is backed up, hopefully not with TimeMachine alone, but if you did, then get another drive and backup data manually to that as well. If the TM drive gets messed up, it's a pain to get your data off of it.
Question 1: Is it the permissions that are causing these problems, or is it related to something else.  The computer seems to work fine when its working, and then once in awhile, decides its not going to do anything.
Well you could call Apple for replacement 10.6.x disks, and just reinstall 10.6 and bundled programs, but this can kick out kext files out of the /System/Library/Extensions folder installed by some third party software.
This method fixes OS X, but doesn't touch your files or most programs.
Nor will this method fix your Users accounts if the issue is in there.
A creation of a new user, then deletion of the others, return files from backup (set permissions) will fix User folder issues if the above user permissions fix doesn't work.
(Of course you could wipe the drive from the 10.6 disk, but you have to install all software again)
Would upgrading to Lion (currently running 10.6.8) fix the permissions issues or just carry them forward?
No, you don't want to install Lion, it won't fix those issues in User folders, not only that Lion has it's own issues and doesn't work with a lot of older software etc.   No use clusterfscking a already bad situtation when it's seems it's only localized to the User accounts.
I would like to consolidate the 3 users into one, if that would solve it.
Yes that could very nicely and tidy up things in the process.
What you do is transfer all files to one regular powered storage hard drive.
(Don't use/disconnect the TimeMachine drive for this as it preserves the users seperated and you don't want all those users back restoring  with Migration Assistant)
Create the New User on the machine as Admin, log into it and delete all the other Users, transfer all your files back from the regular storage drive, changing all the permissions to yourself before placing them into their respective folders as they will have three different permissions.
Notes:
If you have a extensive iTunes playlists on one User (say #1), then create the new user with that same name (will require some work, create User 4, delete Users 1-3, reboot, create User 1, delete User 4) then transfer your iTunes folder to Music of that User 1 (same name as before). This will preserve the pathnames of your song locations and your playlists will be preserved.
(before you ask, no you can't combine playlists)
Also if you have photo's in iPhoto Library, you have to right click on it and "show package contents" inside is a folder called Originals, copy them out and import into the iPhoto of the User #1.
Does the migration utility preserve permissions or does it give you a brand new start?
Yes it preserves user permissions, no it doesn't give you a brand new start. Only a fresh install, creation of new users and then just transferring of files does that.
Nothing about TimeMachine or Migration Assistant gives one a "fresh start", it's if hosed, so is your restore.
If you want that sort of pristine protection, you need to clone your ideal boot partition/drive using Carbon Copy Cloner (free/donationware) occasionally as a hold the option key bootable drive, then you can erase and reverse clone the pristine saved clone.
One can also update the clone on occasion, this way keeping the clone pristine.
I maintain 3 clones time dated, even have my boot drive partitioned 50/50 and auto-cloned, this way I have two boot partitions on the road and two externals at home.
I never use TimeMachine, it's not bootable (well it is on 10.7.2 only to restore though)