Permissions issues on backup volume

Question

I just finished a complete reformat and reinstall of 10.3 with the intent to just restore certain data from TM. I ended up creating trouble for myself by creating my new user account with a different name than the old one. While I could retrieve data through TM it wasn't optimal since the previous user didn't exist on the drive.
I created a new account with the same name as the TM backup and most things are fine, but... certain folders throughout the backup (Desktop, Library, and the like) seem to have set their permissions to the now deleted account - which means I can't read them from TM. I'm able to change the permissions on a file by file basis in the finder, but would love to be able to propagate these changes across all instances of the folders in the backup volume. Anybody have any ideas?

Answer 1

Open /Applications/Utilities/Terminal, copy the blue text in, and press enter.
You'll be asked for your admin password, which you won't see.
sudo chown -R `id -un`:`id -gn` ~
That will change the owner of ALL files in your home directory to you. (Which is how it should be)
The get info pane in Leopard is buggy for changing permissions.
To fix any damage it caused, use these steps:
1. Open /Applications/Utilities/Terminal from the affected account.
IMPORTANT NOTE: copy the blue text in. Don't attempt to retype it, as a mistake could cause more issues.
2. Copy the blue text in, and press enter. chmod -R -N ~
That command removes all ACL entries from your home folder. The next commands put them back where they should be.
3. (Press enter after copying and pasting this command in). chmod +a "everyone deny delete" ~/ ~/Desktop ~/Documents ~/Downloads ~/Library ~/Movies ~/Music ~/Pictures ~/Public ~/Sites
4. (Press enter after copying and pasting this command in). chmod +a "`id -un` allow list,addfile,search,delete,add_subdirectory,delete_child,readattr,writeattr,readextattr, writeextattr,readsecurity,writesecurity,chown,file_inherit,directoryinherit" ~/Public/Drop\ Box
After running those commands, your home folder permissions should be fine. (NOTE: You may get a response:
chmod: Failed to clear ACL on file Commands: Invalid argument
chmod: Failed to clear ACL on file Notification: Invalid argument
That is safe to ignore. The rest of the commands will still work fine.)
In future, do NOT use the "Apply to enclosed items" option in the get info window.
Good luck!
Message was edited by: joshz
Message was edited by: joshz